TEHRAN Majlis Committee for Planning and Budgetary Affairs approved on Tuesday the outlines of two bills proposed by the government to merge four ministries.
If approved in open session of Majlis, the Ministry of Construction Jihad would be merged with the Agriculture Ministry and the Ministry of Industries would be one with the Mines and Metals Ministry.
The Tehran-e Emrouz, to be published soon by the TEHRAN TIMES Institute, conducted interviews with experts on the issue.
Ahmad Nateq Nouri, a member to the Majlis Committee for Budgetary said that the bill may face difficulty being approved by the Majlis.
The merger of ministries will cut parallel responsibilities and the entities will become more integrated, he said adding that this is to the benefit of the government.
Regarding the disagreement of some of Majlis deputies to the bill, he said the opposing MPs stress that the merger should be delayed until the end of the Third Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March 2000-March 2005) because the government cannot afford it.
However, he said, the proponents believe the government has evaluated its capacity and is certain it can act on the plan." Seyed Afzal Mousavi, deputy from Zanjan and member of Budgetary Committee, told the TEHRAN TIMES that the government is duty-bound to implement the project to manage the ministries of jihad, agriculture, industries and mines and metals.
"It is expected that the plan for merger of oil and power ministries should also be presented," he added.
On the agreement and disagreement of MPs with the merger, Mousavi said 220 Majlis deputies in a letter called on the government to implement the plan in full, adding that there are a number of other deputies who are opposed to the plan, but that the plan will be approved with the majority of votes.
Elaborating on the impact of the merger, the MP said in different countries the number of ministries varies from 7 to 80 and the more developed the countries, the less the number of their ministries.
"As such, these mergers and concentrations leads to more efficient decision-making," Mousavi said and alluding to merger of the oil and power ministries said in the past we had the National Iranian Oil Company but today the oil ministry is functioning above the oil company.
"Therefore, bring the companies under the affiliation of the National Iranian Oil Company, and gas, power distribution, water and swage companies under the supervision of one ministry," he added.
He said incumbency in government sector should be diminished and the mergers can be effective to this end.
On the merger of Commerce Ministry in other ministries, Mousavi said that no discussion has yet been made in this respect, but a noticeable section of the industrial commercial activities can be handled by the ministry of industries.
Regarding the selection of new ministers, the MP said the new ministers should be selected from among those who are versed in management of industry, agriculture and energy.
An official of the Management and Planning Organization Gholamhossein Khorshidi who is also an expert on economy told the TEHRAN TIMES that the main problem of the country's administrative and executive order does not lie in organizational structure and government organization but in the system management.
Khorshidi who is also a member of the academia in Shahid Beheshti University said our executive system is impotent and not prone to fundamental change in management; therefore, the mergers cannot unravel the complication.
He said the administrative system is dominated by managers who have demonstrated their inefficiency and added that necessary reforms should be introduced in organizational structure and management combination.
Khorshidi said new management of these ministries should be stronger than the previous segregated management because efficient ministries stand in need of efficient managers, adding that management of our favorites and friends should come to an end.
He said a limited set of managers have been engaged in work in the past two decades within special framework in different centers, while the literature of the science of management underscores that a manager in a four year period can bring his/her views and experiences to the field and consequently he/she should be replaced by a more efficient manager.
"The mergers will not, therefore, introduce major changes," he added.
Khorshidi said we have many unresolved problems and there are those who claim to be able to resolve the problems and should therefore provided the opportunity to enter the scene and settle the problems.
The mergers are seen as part of efforts by President Mohammad Khatami to streamline the government and the bureaucracy which is hampering its efficiency.
Khatami last month appointed PTT minister Mohammadreza Aref to head the newly created Management and Planning Organization which took over the functions of the defunct Plan and Budget Organization (PBO) and the Organization for Administrative and Employment Affairs.
The heads of the two above-mentioned dissolved organizations, Mohammad-Ali Najafi and Mohammad Baqerian, were later appointed as advisors to President Khatami.