10/03/2006
are public transport companies private companies?
Cindy Lim, Press Secretary to the Minister of Transport wrote a letter to the Straits Times forum explaining why a forumer's allegation against the transport companies were wrong. And she went on to justify the come of the transport companies as healthy and not excessive.
I am wondering why aren't the transport companies be there explaining for themselves and why the Transport Ministry thinks it is its responsibility to do so. Aren't the transport companies private companies, or are they govt companies?
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6 comments:
Do you even need to ask the question ? The answer is painfully obvious.
I think you must be refering to different assumptions, that a profitable business concern must therefore yield dividends of sorts. But in today's context of inter-relationships between different agencies, sub-agencies and sub-sub-agencies etc. it is no longer that simple or straightforward and one must be mindful of these accounting sets when evaluating costs.
But if little is known or understood about how profits were booked in the first place, and why liabilities needed to be booked in separate entities or subsidaries for example, even profitable entities can justify price increases on the basis of separate financial burden.
Therefore the level of transparency, and the degree of comfort level the agencies are willing to allow it to be either absolutely or partially transparent is important.
Our free-to-all TV license fees, will not be like in other countries, free despite Mediacorp's bumper profits becos the revenue collection agency is, no luck to you, not Mediacorp itself.
By the way you put it, is it not very sad.
The accting sets in advanced countries like US are far more complex; for example, a bloke going to a baseball match could be paying as many as 3 sets of gst to separate agencies. Uptown places dont come cheap! What to do?
i would rather like to see the ministries as neutral and independent agencies that act as checks and controls.
coming out to defend private companies gives people the impression that they are the owner of these companies or are the one deciding on all the pricing and policies of these companies. if that is the case, then it is only right for the people to point the finger at the ministries for the wrong of these companies.
It is always smart to get as many free quotes as you can from as many companies as possible, so you can see how each company differs in price. This will also allow you to avoid any that you just can't afford.
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