Privatization can be a knight in shining armor, not a bogeyman, for public companies in services

The current state of public companies and services has made privatization — or at least private sector investment — a necessity, Osama Ghazali Harb writes for Al Ahram. Harb expresses his (very understandable) confusion over the hysteria that surrounds the notion of privatization, noting that much of the concern is connected to the way privatization has happened in the past, rather than the concept of privatization in itself. He points to the overhaul of the country’s railway network, which is expected to cost EGP 45 bn — a sum the state cannot afford on its own — as a clear example of a public service that is in dire need of the privatization “bogeyman.”