The Privatization Reform In Public Utilities In China And The Control Of Its Public Risks

Since the British Thatcher government has implemented privatization reform on a large scale in late 1970s, privatization has become a trend sweeping across the world. In 1990s, the urban public utilities, as the "last bastion" of the planned economy in China, have begun privatization reform. Throughout the whole process of reform, privatization has made some achievements in alleviating financial pressure, expanding financing channels, increasing productivity, improving service etc., however, because of the nature of urban public utilities and our own development of politic and economy, privatization is not the cure-all panacea, there are certain public risks in politic, economy and society, and these potential risks will affect the privatization process and the development of urban public utilities. Therefore, to study the public risks of the privatization reform of urban public utilities and how to prevent from and control them has its theoretical and practical significance.In this thesis, the structure is divided into four parts. The first part is about the privatization reform' s practice of the urban public utilities in China, to define the concept of urban public utilities and its privatization reform , to analyze the theoretical and practical driving force of the privatization reform of urban public utilities, and to sum up its process systematically; The second part is to analyze the public risks of the privatization reform of urban public utilities in China, including private monopoly of the operation leading to risks of economic benefits, the absence of government supervision leading to risks of social equity, unclear public-private boundaries leading to risk of political corruption; The third part is some suggestion on how to guard against and control the public risks of the privatization reform of urban public utilities in China , suggest recommend the successful experience of Western countries, transform the governmental functions, creating a fair and effective competition mechanism in the market, with the law as the guide to standardize the operation of privatization reform, strengthen government supervision to ensure social justice and public security, and strengthen democratic supervision to promote the healthy development of urban public utilities. Part four is to give a real example—the market-oriented reform of urban public utilities in Changsha city, in which it analyzed and summarized its process, models and results.