The government plans to sell or lease state-owned buildings around the country to boost its revenues.
“We are developing a prime ministerial decree on turning state-owned buildings into capital,” Director General of the Ministry of Finance's State Assets Department, Mr Vanechay Khenvongdara, told Vientiane Timeson Tuesday.
The decree will also outline regulations for the leasing of government- owned buildings to individuals and companies.
He said the drafting committee responsible for the decree would host discussions with relevant sectors in Vientiane this week and in the provinces over the next few months, hoping to finalise it before the end of this year.
“We want to let people know about the decree so we won't run into problems when we enforce it,” he said.
Mr Vanechay said once the draft decree is completed and approved by the cabinet it would provide legal support for authorities to sell and lease publicly-owned buildings to individuals and companies.
Under the proposed decree, the sale and lease of state-owned buildings could only be done through a transparent bidding system. Any individual or company wishing to make a bid must meet certain requirements outlined in the decree.
Mr Vanechay said although most government-owned premises around the country are occupied by government departments there are others that are used by private companies that do not pay rent, causing a loss of revenue for the state.
He confirmed that under the new decree, government officials, retired officials and their relatives who live in state-owned buildings would have to lease their residences from the government.
Prices for the rent and purchase of government-owned buildings are yet to be determined, he said.
Mr Vanechay said the department is cooperating with local administrations to compile a list of state-owned buildings around the country.
An official from the ministry's Fiscal Policy Department said the proposed decree will establish guidelines for the government to sell public land and lease it to individuals and organisations.
The government initiated a policy to turn state assets into capital several decades ago but no decrees or legal documents have been drawn up, making it difficult to put the policy into practice.
The government hopes that the asset capitalisation initiative will boost revenues and turn around the budget deficit.
The government collected revenues of about 8,140 billion kip in the 2008-09 fiscal year. Of that, 7,257 billion kip came from domestic sources, reaching 95 percent of the annual target. The budget deficit in that year was 4.3 percent of GDP.
