Before getting to the topic in the headline, I want to raise a question that has been on my mind. Who Will Get the Money if Kıb-Tek Is Privatized?
The CTP-ÖRP government’s most celebrated achievement was the steps it took on electricity.
You must have watched, listened to, or read Mr. Soyer’s comments on this matter, whether when he appeared on Öğlen Ajansı or on other platforms.
In fact, in one respect the CTP-ÖRP government is right to be proud of this achievement: power cuts in the country had become excessive because of insufficient generation, and our electricity was going off even in light winds.
The government had taken action on this issue: power lines were renewed and new power plants were built.
Good, that was fine!
But the government had passed the bill for these initiatives on to the public.
Citizens were left with no choice but to pay the cost of the new power plants, which was added to their bills. (In fact, citizens are still paying these amounts, although they have fallen.)
But the public, exhausted by power cuts, has not objected to paying these amounts and, like someone “clutching at a snake after falling into the sea,” meekly continues to pay even today.
We can describe what has happened up to this point as “a situation that looks abnormal but is normal.”
After all, it is a relationship of mutual interest—though compulsory from the citizens’ point of view!
However!
The privatization of KTHY, KIB-TEK, and DAÜ, raised during and after Eroğlu’s latest visit to Ankara, looks set to take the situation to an “abnormal” level, particularly as regards KIB-TEK.
Yes, the taxes paid by citizens are crucial to keeping the other institutions afloat as well, but, as I noted above, the situation with KIB-TEK is different!
If KIB-TEK, which has been brought to this point with money citizens have paid beyond their taxes, is privatized, who will get the money from that privatization?
After all, what we have here is a kind of partnership in the profits…
If Eroğlu does as he said he would and pursues privatization—having said, “Turkey asks the IMF for money and puts up with its conditions; we will also comply with Turkey’s conditions”—then surely we will get our share of this partnership in the profits!
“The state is a burden on KIB-TEK.”
These words belong to someone who once held a senior position at KIB-TEK. The information I got from him is just as interesting as this remark.
I learned an interesting fact about the “energy-saving” light bulbs brought in from abroad during the CTP-ÖRP government’s term, with the aim of saving energy.
There are currently more than 100,000 bulbs in KIB-TEK’s warehouse in the Nicosia industrial zone.
In other words, the bulbs bought to save energy are being left idle in a warehouse, leading to waste…
Another issue is whether KIB-TEK is a burden on the state.
The person I mentioned says, naming names, that companies in our country are not paying their electricity bills and that the political leadership is turning a blind eye to this.
As a result, KIB-TEK, unable to collect what it is owed, is presented as a loss-making organization.
The same person also addresses the issue of staffing, saying that the number of employees at KIB-TEK is normal when calculated on a per-household basis for the energy sector.
In light of all this, the person who brought up the question of being a burden concludes by saying: “Political mismanagement—along with the fact that the institution is portrayed as unable to collect what it is owed and as making losses, and that bulbs costing thousands of lira were bought in the name of saving energy only to be left in warehouses, among other things—makes KIB-TEK seem like a burden on the state. In reality, the state is a burden on KIB-TEK.”
Hope to see you on Friday…
Pay attention to your surroundings, keep them clean, and please be considerate in traffic!