[R-P] Agua podrida en Tanzania

[Nestor Gorojovsky]

Gentileza de la lista A-list

Fracasa privatización estrella del agua corriente en Tanzania

Empresa británica pierde contrato; pelea por la provisión

John Vidal en Dar es Salaam,
Viernes 25 de mayo de 2005

[La privatizada, por supuesto, no cumplió su contrato.  El gobierno, 
finalmente, canceló toda operación común.  La privatización, como 
siempre, estaba financiada por el Banco Mundial con apoyo del 
gobierno británico.

¿Libre empresa?

No.

Piratería.

El original en inglés, completo, al pie.] 

UK firm's contract cancelled amid row over supply 
John Vidal in Dar es Salaam 
Wednesday May 25, 2005

Guardian A flagship water privatisation scheme for Africa has 
collapsed amid claims that the British company involved has failed to 
improve the supply for millions of people.

 Tanzania's government yesterday confirmed it had cancelled its deal 
with Biwater, which was contracted two years ago to bring clean water 
to the capital, Dar es Salaam, and the surrounding region within five 
years by installing new pipes.

 The $140m (£76.5m) World Bank-funded privatisation scheme - which 
was supported by the UK government - was one of the most ambitious in 
Africa and was intended to be a model for how the world's poorest 
communities could be lifted out of poverty and countries could meet 
their millennium development goal targets.

 Tanzania has made a series of allegations against Biwater, which is 
working in Dar es Salaam with the German engineering firm Gauff under 
the name City Water.

 It claims that no new domestic pipework has been installed, the 
company has not spent the money it had promised, water quality has 
declined, and that revenue has decreased.

 "The company has failed to produce the goods," Tanzania's water 
minister, Edward Lowassa, said.

 Yesterday Cliff Stone, the British chief executive of City Water, 
denied the accusations and said a case had been filed against the 
Tanzanian government for alleged breach of contract.

 "It looks as if we are being confrontational, but we are not. We had 
a contract" he said.

 He accepted that the project was well behind schedule and that no 
pipes had been installed but he claimed water quality and quantity 
had improved and that 10,000 new customers had been signed up in the 
last two months.

 He said: "We have been trying to renegotiate the terms with a view 
to continuing." Mr Stone claimed the Tanzanian government had given 
the company wrong data about water supplies and the delays were not 
of City Water's making.

 "We accept there is a serious problem but we proposed on May 9 that 
we put in a further $5m over the next year and borrow a further $6m. 
We said 'Let's talk about it' but the government announced the 
contract had terminated to the press." He said the Tanzanian 
government owed the company $3m.

 The privatisation scheme was facilitated by British aid money. The 
Department for International Development paid Adam Smith 
International, sister organisation of the free market UK thinktank 
Adam Smith Institute, more than £500,000 to provide advice to the 
Tanzanian government.

 More than £250,000 of that sum was spent by Adam Smith International 
on a video which included the words: "Our old industries are dry like 
crops and privatisation brings the rain."

According to the World Development Movement in London yesterday, 
Tanzania was forced to privatise its water as a condition of 
international debt forgiveness. "The Inter national Monetary Fund 
forced water privatisation on one of the poorest countries in the 
world in order to benefit western water companies," said Dave Timms 
of WDM.

 The collapse of the contract throws into question other water 
privatisations planned around the world, and the British government's 
involvement in them.

 Resentment against private water monopolies is growing, and there 
have been demonstrations in South America, Africa, the Caribbean, and 
Asia.

 Many western companies are accused of profiting from the poor and 
raising prices above what they can afford.

 But City Water claimed that it stood to make little money out of the 
scheme.

 "Our declared profit was to be just 10%. There is no way we can make 
super-profits in Dar es Salaam" said Mr Stone.

 "We have been losing money. Profits always come at the end of a 
contract. The plan was to use this as a model for other projects and 
recoup money later on."

The DfID has said it has paid more than £36m in the past seven years 
to Adam Smith International and PricewaterhouseCoopers to advise 
countries on privatising utilities.

 Yesterday the international development group ActionAid condemned 
the World Bank and the British government.

 "The British government and public should not support this kind of 
tied aid from the IMF and the World Bank. The Tanzanian government's 
decision to revoke the contract with Biwater is very welcome," said 
Rose Mushi, the director of ActionAid in Tanzania.

 A spokesman for DfID said: "It is for the government of Tanzania to 
set its own policies and priorities.

 "It was their decision to introduce private sector participation in 
the water sector in Dar es Salaam. It is not appropriate for us to 
comment on contractual issues." Guardian Unlimited © Guardian 
Newspapers Limited 2005

 


Néstor Miguel Gorojovsky
nestorgoro en fibertel.com.ar

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