Revesting of failed ventures:

Competent Authority within a week

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

The government will appoint a Competent Authority within a week, for the 37 companies taken over by the government under the Revival of Underperforming Enterprises and Underutilized Assets Act, Cabinet Spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said.

"The government will seriously consider the new proposals submitted by their former administrators when offering them for long term lease. But they have to show clearly how they are going to do it better than before," Minister Rambukwella said.

Addressing the weekly Cabinet press briefing at the Government Information Department Auditorium yesterday, Minister Rambukwella said that all 37 companies will be handed over to persons who can show how they are going to make profits."

It will be done under certain conditions. It was the party leaders who decided how long an Act is to be debated. There was no urgency on the part of the government to rush through the Act," he said.

According to Minister Rambukwella, the government wanted to get the Act passed in Parliament quickly to prevent looting and mismanagement." During the time of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike a similar Act came into operation soon after it was presented and approved by the Cabinet. "But this Act came into being only after it was passed in Parliament," he said.

Minister Rambukwella pointed out that there is no contradiction between handing over the Embilipitiya Paper Mill to an Australian investor and taking over under performing and loss making companies.

During the last three years, the government had turned around many estates which were mismanaged by companies. Many loss making institutions have already been turned around by the government," he said.