LJUMOVIĆ: Public utility companies should stay property of State

Public utility companies in Serbia should stay property of the state, because experiences of the country in transition show that the quickened and incautious privatization of that sector had numerous bad consequences. This was said yesterday (June 6, 2007) at the sixth Fair of public utility equipment "Komdel", which is held in "Expo XXI" center in Novi Beograd.

Domestic public utility companies should be protected in the privatization process in the way that the best model, which should be transparent, must be found, said Branimir Ljumović, Secretary of the Association for public utility activities within Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, at the meeting of that Assocaition. He explained that Serbia was the owner of public utility companies before Constitution was established, which meant that the consent of the state had been necessary for all activities in those companies.

Now, after the change in the Constitution, it is expected that property will be returned to local authorities, which means that the local self-government can dispose of that property. Public utility workers expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that new public utility companies are daily registered in Serbia and they are dividing this branch, which is very important to population and functioning of the cities.