ISLAMABAD, Dec 2: The government has decided in principle to abolish the Monopoly Control Authority (MCA) and replace it with a National Competition Commission to synchronize all regulatory authorities for creating an overall competitive environment in the country.
Informed sources told Dawn on Friday that the government had hired the services of the World Bank and the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK to finalize necessary legislation in this regard within a period of three months in line with similar arrangements in developed countries like the US, the UK and Singapore.
The sources said the law would be followed in another three months by the abolition of Monopoly Control Authority and strengthening of the capacity of the ministry of finance for holding regular dialogue with all the existing regulatory authorities to achieve the objective of a uniform policy towards market competition.
The sources said the government had been facing crisis like situations in sectors like power regulation, oil and gas pricing and other such issues from time to time because of independent positions taken by the regulatory authorities or uncontrolled business practices by the industry like cement, oil sector and sugar industry, and it seemed if there was no government at all in the country and business sectors moved in their separate directions.
Under the proposed law, all the regulatory authorities would be given targets for a year and their performance would be examined through achievement of these targets according to international best practices.
The new law is aimed at creating three objectives of fair competition, improvement in investment climate and provision of easy access to international capital markets.
The sources said the existing laws governing the Monopoly Control Authority had become obsolete and it had no powers and teeth to control unethical business practices and monopolistic trends in the country.
The recent experience, said the sources, had showed that cement, sugar, stock brokers and car manufacturers enjoyed an absolute freedom to manipulate their prices to fleece the public through their influence in the relevant ministries.
The World Bank has asked the government that unless it removed such elements from the business and investment environment, the international investors and financial institutions would not treat Pakistan as a business and investment friendly destination.
The sources pointed out that the regulatory authorities like the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) would be brought into a consultative forum under the ministry of finance.
A special umbrella organization would be created in the finance ministry by hiring professionals of repute in the fields of international law, competition laws, relevant technical fields, finance and business administration.
