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bodies and pressure groups find themselves always "clamouring at the wrong doors or petitioning the wrong departments".
The most contentious issue concerning the provisions
is the concept of "permitted return". There are seven different levels of permitted return for the existing seven
schemes of control.
The Government unit responsible for the monitoring of
public utilities has a workforce of only five. Given the differences in the schemes of control and in the monitoring
procedures, strict enforcement would not be possible even if
they were supermen.
With this in mind, I hope that, while considering the Consultancy report, the Government would conduct an overall
review of the policies towards the monitoring of all privately
owned public utilities and formulate a uniform and comprehensive system for new schemes of control. Moreover, for the purpose of public accountability, either a special committee should be set up or UMELCO Members should be
appointed to assist in the review and monitoring of public
utilities. This would help to remove existing anomalies and to
relieve consumers of their worries.
Sir, with these remarks, I support the motion.
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