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Published on July 16, 2007

Sansern said last week that the Finance Ministry's new regulations aimed to enhance the efficiency of state enterprises.

The main criteria for assessing the best-performing enterprises will be leadership ability, how well processes are managed and achieving a balance in effective outputs - as opposed to a focus solely on profit.

Sansern said he would invite all enterprises under the supervision of the ministry to attend the initial meeting, before arranging one-on-one sessions.

He added that after they had a full understanding of the Finance Ministry's new regulations, the ministry would instruct them to submit their summit assessment-criteria proposals.

"The Transport Ministry is a state unit that supervises the largest number of state enterprises. It also allocates a large budget [to these enterprises]," said Sansern.

He said the state enterprises currently assessed as having the best performance were those with a liquid cash flow, which helped drive the expanding economy.

However, he acknowledged that many state enterprises under his ministry's supervision still faced losses, especially the State Railway of Thailand (SRT).

Despite undergoing a reorganisation, the agency will also have to adjust itself to conform to the new assessment regulations, Sansern said.

The SRT is preparing for radical change, as it plans to open up its railway operations to the private sector.

It will play a major role in providing concessions for railway operations, generating valuable income from such fees.

Watcharapong Thongrung

The Nation