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Energy expert calls for PTT power curbs
Land expropriation topic of fresh debate
PTT Plc's power to expropriate land for natural gas pipelines should be returned to the state, an economic expert has recommended. The government should also form a regulatory body to oversee land expropriation authorisation, said Piyasvasti Amranand, the chairman of Kasikorn Asset Management.Dr Piyasvasti, formerly the country's top energy policymaker, also said it would be difficult to nullify the laws that led to PTT's listing on the stock market given that PTT shares had now been trading for more than four years.
He was commenting on efforts by activists to overturn other state enterprise privatisations following their victory in the case of Egat Plc. The Supreme Administrative Court said the procedures related to Egat's corporatisation had been seriously flawed, and as a result the national power utility has effectively reverted to being a state enterprise.
Before PTT's shares were sold to investors in an initial public offering, PTT pledged in its prospectus to spin off its pipeline operation. The goal was to make future expansion of natural gas transport more transparent and competitive.
The pledge, however, could not be honoured by 2003 as PTT had planned, he said. Pipeline operations are still overseen by the country's largest energy company.
He said a regulator should be set up to handle the pipeline operation, just as electricity transmission is regulated, to create fairness, especially to consumers.
Other economic experts said future listings of other state enterprises could be carried out but preparations regarding the structures of the enterprises and guidelines for listings should be clear.
Before listings take place, they said, the confidence of consumers, not just stock investors, should be enhanced. With Egat, they said, an ad hoc power regulatory body was set up and IPO shares were offered without any clear guarantees as to the future regulatory structure.
Dr Piyasvasti said the state enterprise corporatisation law should be applied in the future to privatise state enterprises. When IPO shares of those enterprises are being sold, laws or regulations should be issued to maintain state power or assets of state enterprises after privatisation.
Deunden Nikonborrirak, research director of the Thailand Development Research Institute, said the court's ruling on Egat should be considered as the basis for planned listings of other state enterprises. In this regard, she said, planning and procedures related to corporatisation and listings should be carried out in stages and done more clearly.
In a future privatisation, when IPO shares of state enterprises are sold, laws or regulations should be issued to strengthen the confidence of consumers and investors, she added.
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