Editorial (Businessage Monthly)

Abolish Syndicates

Gradually, the public opinion against Bandhs and Chakka-jams is building up. That can be taken as the silver lining on the black clouds still hovering on the horizon. But as long as political parties or politicians disgruntled at being unable to manage representation in the parliament or the seat of power are there, one may not be quite hopeful of getting rid of this tendency in which a few take the whole nation at ransom. The risk is that banning these strikes altogether may push more of such elements to the jungle to join ranks with the Maoist insurgents.

Despite the public opinion against these eccentricities on the street, our government has been fueling the zeal of these very eccentrics by taking whimsical decisions, which fail to address the problems at their roots.

Take the example of the decision to remove 20-year old vehicles from the streets. The environmental concern that is said to be behind the decision is commendable. But what is hard to digest is the sweeping generalization that every old vehicle is a pollutant and every new one is clean. Moreover one may only wonder what the government would do if Nepal Tourism Board comes up with a proposal to hold a vintage car rally in Kathmandu to promote tourism.

When the basic objective is to encourage high technology vehicles to replace the outdated ones that could be easily be achieved by simply dismantling the artificial barriers posed on the entry of new vehicles into the public transport system.

If the government lifts its protection to the syndicates of transporters, new transport operators will rush into the market with modern vehicles. And there are many such aspirants waiting by the wings. As the new vehicles will be preferred by the commuters, the old ones will automatically be edged out of the market if they do not try to modernize themselves.

Present syndicate system has been rewarding the transport operators for their inefficiency. The micro-buses and SAFA TEMPOs have made commuting a lot easier. But they are still operating under the same old system of syndicates. Encouraging a number of corporate bodies as transport operators in each of the routes would bring in the element of competition by developing the concept of branding in transport services. None of such operators would ever dare to go on a strike lest the competitor takes up the market share. The higher the number of such operators the better for competition.

Let these matters be decided by the market forces themselves.

Send your feedback to the editor: bizage@ecomail.com.np
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