"Three of these four initial steps are designed to make BUMNs (state-owned companies) more focused, and to improve their financial conditions and competitiveness," Dahlan said on the sidelines of a seminar held by Swa Magazine.
The three measures included settling asset problems in 142 BUMNs.
"This measure is in line with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono`s directives that BUMN assets worth a total around Rp2,500 trillion must be verified again. Many of their assets are not productive and just burdening the state budget," he said.
He said there were BUMNs that continued to pay billions of rupiahs in land and property taxes every month on unproductive assets.
"Problems like these must be settled by transferring the management of the assets to PT Perusahaan Pengelola Aset (PPA). For starters, the assets of seven big BUMNs are now being handled by PPA," he said.
The second measure was insisting that BUMNS must be run and managed by "dream teams" at director and commissioner levels."BUMN boards of directors must be teams whose members work in solid synergy with each other in developing the companies," he said.
Dahlan said he would give BUMN president directors the authority to name the rest of the company`s board of directors in order to create the required dream teams.
"The dream teams are also intended to make BUMN managements immune to intervention from inside or outside," he said.
He said the dream teams were expected to be able to run the companies seriously because they know each other well and have common perceptions on how to develop the companies.
"Eighty percent of the reasons a BUMN fails to make headway lies in the incompetence of its directors and commissioners and lack of aolidty among them," Dahlan said.
Therefore, the former president director of state-owned electricity company PT PLN said BUMN directors who were not able to cooperate had better resign.
The third measure meanwhile was downsizing BUMNs from presently 140 to just 70. Dahlan said "ideally the number is only 70 so that they can focus on fields that are really profitable."
He said losing BUMNs or small BUMNs and BUMNs that operate in similar fields had better be merged, acquired or even liquidated.
Dahlan declined to reveal the fourth measure saying "just wait for the next seminar where I will reveal it." (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
