Experts Find Belarus’ Postal Network Too Large, Advise Taking It Public
5.10.2012 / 10:27
International experts recommend that RUP Belposhta should be transformed into a stock corporation, Iryna Saksonava, director general of Belarus' state postal services company, told reporters in Minsk on Thursday.
A comprehensive reform and development plan for Belarus' postal sector, which was drawn up with the help of experts of the Universal Postal Union, recommends the ownership reform, Ms. Saksonava said.
Although Belposhta does not reject the recommendation, the reform would take many years because certain conditions have to be met, she said.
Ms. Saksonava noted that the issue had repeatedly been discussed before. To sell stocks, it is first necessary to make a business profitable, which requires modernization, she said.
Many postal services in Belarus, especially in rural areas, are unprofitable, with the authorities keeping their rates low for social reasons, Ms. Saksonava said. “Mail carriers in villages earn almost nothing for themselves and only deliver mail,” she said. “I don't think it's the most attractive enterprise.”
Furthermore the experts believe that Belarus' postal network is too extensive.
Experts of the Universal Postal Union, who helped devise a comprehensive reform and development plan for Belarus' postal sector, noted that 3,743 post offices was too much for Belarus, Ms. Saksonava said.
There is one post office for 56,500 square kilometers and 2,606 people, she noted.
A total of 141 post offices are to be closed in Belarus this year, Ms. Saksonava said, adding that they are replaced with “mobile post offices”" that are equipped with computers and connected to the web.
At the same time, there are not enough post offices in Minsk and other large cities, she said. Belstat and the communications ministry work together to amend Belarus' postal services law to require the construction of postal offices for residents of new houses in cities, she said.
“The postal offices are very expensive to build, but we find funds for this and try to rent space,” Ms. Saksonava said.
To get rid of lines at post offices, Belposhta has begun to deal with individuals and legal entities separately, using the experience of European postal operators, she said.