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Contributions from
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Monitor
Challenging guidelines
Afghanistan: NGOs adopt code of conduct
AIDS drug:
Brazil achieves price reduction
US Congress slows down
Millennium Challenge Account
German development
budget 2006
Pro-poor growth in practice
Military intervention hardly helps
G8 summit disappoints NGOs
GTZ attracts
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Generic pharma
factory in Kabul
New EU trade
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Privatisation dispute misses the point
Scant participation
by civil society
8-9/2005
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[ Water supply ]
Privatisation dispute misses the point
“We have to go beyond ideological positions and succeed in mobilising synergies between private and public actors if we are to improve the water supply in developing countries.” Wolfgang Kroh, board member of KfW development bank does not disguise his yearning to see an end of the debate on the pros and cons of privatisation in the water sector. One billion people are cut off from an operational drinking water supply. If this number is to be halved by the year 2015, there is much to sort out – beyond the debate on privatisation (see also Frank Kürschner-Pelkmann’s essay on p. 336). Some of the core issues were raised at a panel discussion in Bonn at the end of June.
First: decentralisation. “The most successful projects are small and decentralised. They reflect the fact that even sewage is a resource,” says Arne Panesar of Germany’s confederation of environmental action groups (Bundesverband Bürgerinitiativen Umweltschutz). In his view, privatisation is hardly controversial in this context. Medium-sized enterprises that improve water supply by using small sewage treatment plants or effective pump systems should be welcomed, says Panesar. Advanced nations, however, are not really in a position to offer credible solutions, according to the environmentalist, since their domestic supply systems are almost completely centralised.
Second: fine-tuning the work load of regulatory authorities. Small, decentral schemes as proposed by Panesar can serve to break the monopolies of major utilities and thus create more competition. Karl-Ulrich Rudolph of Witten/Herdecke University promotes this approach and suggests that governments with weak supervisory bodies might be relieved of their burden.
Third: participation. Popular participation in decision making on resource use is a precondition for a well functioning water supply. However, this aspect is often disregarded, according to Hans Schipulle of the German Development Ministry. Approximately 20 % of the water that is charged for in developing countries is never paid. The reason is not only that consumers are unable to pay but also that they don’t want to. Consumers involved in decision making are more likely to pay.
The fact that private investors are less involved than hoped – or feared – also proves that the debate on privatisation misses the point. Just under 10 % of drinking water worldwide is supplied by private companies, says Dieter Ernst of Berlinwasser International. And the one billion people who are not connected to a reliable supply system have to help themselves somehow. In the eyes of KfW board member Kroh, this essentially adds up to another form of privatisation.
Jutta Wasserrab
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