Unequal competition of the state with the private sector/ Security should be provided by the government

The 11th government’s support from the private sector to attract foreign investment is the issue which is mentioned by the government as one of the positive measures. However, when we listen to the private sector, they express their dissatisfaction with this issue and even in some cases they regard the government’s negligence and partly orientation as the main obstacle of failing to attract foreign investor in profitable plants.

Ferial Mostofi, the chairman of Iran Chamber Investing Commission, cited numerous problems of private sector with attraction of investment in an interview with Mehr News Agency and gave an example, “We identify a mine as a private sector entrepreneur. All public rights are specified at first stage and will be taken from the mine owner and exploiter. As the private sector, we will look for attracting investor. When the investor is notified about the mine profile, prospects, and capacities, he/ she will be willing to invest, but when the real investment stage starts, he/ she will face numerous obstacles.”

She emphasized, “The state is in charge of the implementation of all necessary infrastructures to attract the investor, but mining plants which is of particular importance in our economy and even attracted investor lack the lowest facilities such as roads, electricity, water, airport, and railway etc. that can justify the exploitation of mines.”

This entrepreneur reiterated, “The government claims the intention to assign such affairs to private sector, but it does not fulfill the initial supports for the private sector’s exploitation. The government should make the infrastructures for the attraction of private sector rather than building big iron foundry and steel factories.”

Referring to the unequal competition of the government with the private sector, Modtofi said, "We have no economic justification to attract investor in this unhealthy competition."

Citing the example of the recent incident in Azadshahr mine of Golestan province, she said, "The government should take care of the tasks such as solving the financial problems of mines rather than competing with the private sector so that the mine owners and exploiters will not escape the implementation of the standards in order to reduce their expenditures."

Mostofi stated, "We cannot blame the owner for such events. Some incidents may be under the control of owners and exploiters, but we should recognize why the owner or exploiter has not complied with the standards and where it is stemmed from."

The chairman of Tehran Chamber Investing Commission reiterated, "Financing is one of the problems which the private mine owners are facing, and of course this problem can be seen in the other sectors of production, That is reason why most employers are looking for the way to cut their costs in order to run their business."

She continued, "The backwardness in equipment and technology is also one of the important factors which can pave the way for incidents. Of course, this backwardness can also be emanated from the first reason which is the lack of liquidity and/ or the problem of funding. Another important factor of outdated equipment can be the imposed sanctions." 

She said, "The tragic incident of Azadshahr mine can be considered from the prospect of costly measure of risk reduction, and reducing cost by the exploiter can have different reasons."

This entrepreneur emphasized, "Of course we should confirm that the most important issue in business is personnel safety. There is no difference between the governmental and private sectors in this respect. The standards may be very precise and perfect in regulations, but the government negligence to supervise and monitor the exploitation can be a background for the incidents to occur. If public sectors supervise and monitor well and precisely, the incidence of these tragic events will reach the lowest level."