The natural resort for the enterprises, therefore, is to raise prices of the products. This will be the ultimate outcome of the privatisation process. The Fiji Electricity Authority restructuring case can be used as an example. The way to get out of this bind, if a return of 10 to 15 per cent is to be realised, is through raising of the prices and charges. When the Economic Sector Committee was informed by FEA that prices and charges will rise significantly, the FEA was serious about this.
Later denials are illogical, and in fact designed to mislead the public.
More serious is the fact that the FEA is planning to proceed with the restructuring despite the fact that the FEA Reorganisation Bill has still not been passed. The fact that 3 entities have been created, staff appointed, and office space rented before the Bill empowering the entities to operate is a serious legal matter. Allegations and counter allegations of the motivation for doing this abound. One strong view is that the restructuring and the shift of the FEA from Lautoka to Suva has less to do with any commercial reality of the FEA than to the fact that the FNPF Plaza needed tenants desperately. The new entities are housed in the FNPF Plaza.