SEOUL — An unprecedented joint strike by South Korean railway and utility unions seeking shorter working hours and and a halt to government privatisation plans went into its second day on Tuesday, according to a wire service report. Following are details of President Kim Dae-jung’s privatisation plans for state railways and public utilities:
RAILWAYS
– The Ministry of Budget and Planning has estimated the state-run railway’s debts of 8.4 trillion won ($6.34 billion) will nearly quadruple to 28 trillion won ($21.1 billion) by 2020 if operations are not sold off to private buyers.
– The government says Korean National Railroad (KORAIL) operations lost 700 billion ($528 million) won in 2001 and traffic is dropping by one million passengers each year. The union disputes the loss figure.
– Proposed privatisation legislation would keep the building and maintenance of tracks in state hands, while spinning off operations to the private sector.
– The plan sees a merger of KORAIL with the Korea High-Speed Rail Construction Authority before 2004, when the latter is slated to open bullet train services on some routes.
POWER
– The government plans to sell one of five power generation affiliates of Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) this year, followed by the sale of four others later.
– As the first step towards privatisation, KEPCO separated its power generating operations into six units, which include five thermal power generation companies and one nuclear and hydro company. The sixth unit, covering nuclear and hydro power, will remain under state control.
– Final plans for the sale were delayed by last month’s cabinet reshuffle, which replaced the Commerce, Industry and Energy Ministry head, who will oversee the privatisation.
GAS
– The government plans to spin off the wholesale and import divisions of state-run Korea Gas Corp into three entities, of which two will be privatised by the end of this year.
– The plan requires parliament to revise laws to allow the break-up of Korea Gas, the world’s second-largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the country’s sole gas distributor.
– This month, the National Assembly rejected the revision bill, saying the law must incorporate more opinions from various parties. Parliament reopens opens in April.