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| Sunday, 24 November 2002 |
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Govt. considers new forms of regulation A super regulator to oversee utilities and infrastructure is due in April next year. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will regulate sectors such as electricity, petroleum, water, highways, aviation and ports. Staffed by professionals, the multi-sector body's goal is to protect consumer interests, manage scarce resources, encourage healthy competition, promote capital investment and remove entry and exit barriers for operators. To do that, the Government is keen to adopt a somewhat light-handed form of regulation to stimulate growth and investment, said Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, who leads the Public Interest Program Unit, of the Economic Reform, Science and Technology Ministry. "We have to create conditions for companies to invest so that they can align their business activities with government policy and incentivise people by using the carrot rather than the stick methods we now use," Samarajiva told the fifth Lanka Business Report-Lanka Business Online CEO Forum. Scarce resources and economies of scale make sense for the Government to group together key sectors under one common regulator. Though similar regulatory structures exist in the US, Europe, some parts of Australia, the Caribbean and Central America, Sri Lanka is the first Asian country to adopt a PUC model. The Constitutional Council on Cabinet recommendation will appoint commissioners for the PUC for a limited term. he Government is also keen to pay market rates to attract professionals from the fields of law, engineering and business administration to man ongoing activities. The PUC will be answerable to the Parliament and funded through licence fees from industry operators. Since it does not deal with sector specific issues, the PUC Act has to be read together with industry specific laws, explained Samarajiva. He also said the telecommunications, cable and broadcasting industry will be policed under a new telecom and information communications technology (ICT) regulator from next year. The new watchdog will replace the existing Telecommunications Regulatory Commission and CINTEC. The existing Sri Lanka Broadcasting Act and the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation Act will be scrapped and replaced with the new ICT and telecom regulator. As more private radio and television networks spring up, the Government feels the super regulator is in a better position to set the parameters. The super regulator will also give some legal muscle and set the regulatory environment for the cable industry. |
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