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Urban water supply in Guinea was privatized from 1989 until 2003 during the Presidency of Lansana Conte. His government initiated water privatization for two reasons: First, the World Bank had made private sector participation in urban water supply a condition for a new credit, after the public water utility had been unable to improve service quality under a previous World Bank credit. Second, the government wanted to reduce the budgetary burden from the national public water utility, which was overstaffed and had been unable to collect bills. In the five years after privatization water tariffs quadrupled. The increase even exceeded the tariff increases that had originally been planned. This eased pressure on the government budget. Consumers also benefited when a bulk water pipeline and water treatment plant, both financed by the World Bank credit, were completed in 1994 resulting in improved service quality. But the tariff increase also imposed a burden on the minority of Guineans who were connected to a piped water supply system. Most of the poor in Guinea were not affected by water privatization, since they remained without access to a piped water supply system. After the private sector contract expired in 2000 and an interim period, the sector reverted to public management. Tariffs were frozen in 1994 and inflation eroded the real value of tariffs. Service quality deteriorated and in 2003 the situation was similar to the low tariff-poor service equilibrium before privatization.〔IRIN News:(GUINEA: Water and power shortages blamed on drought ), 5 June 2003〕〔IRIN News:(GUINEA: Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink ), 13 October 2005〕 The privatization convered Conakry as well as 16 other smaller urban centers. Little is known about the effects of privatization in the smaller centers, since the literature focuses on Conakry, where the national water utility has about 80% of its customers. == Water resources and water use in Conakry == Conakry is located on a peninsula with limited local water availability. Groundwater is brackish and contaminated with bacteria. Most of the piped water distributed in Conakry comes via pipeline from a large reservoir behind a dam used for hydropower generation at Grandes Chutes 60 km northeast of Conakry. The water flows by gravity to the Yessoulou treatment plant halfway between the dam and the capital. It then continues to flow through a treated water pipeline by gravity to the city where it is distributed to house connections and standpipes throughout the city.〔George R. G. Clarke, Claude Menard:(A Transitory Regime Water Supply in Conakry, Guinea ), November 1999, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 2362, p. 13〕 In response to a 1999 survey, 70% of the poor in Conakry said that shallow wells and polluted, temporary streams were their main source of water for non-potable uses. 18% of the poor said these were their main sources of drinking water. Other important sources of drinking water for the poor were the resale of piped water (41%), standpipes (13%) and piped water connections in their homes (28%).〔Ahmadou Koré Bah et al.:(Approvisionnement en eau des ménages de Conakry ), in: Afrique contemporaine, 2007/1 (n° 221)〕 Rainwater harvesting is also common for non-potable uses during the rainy season.〔George R. G. Clarke, Claude Menard:(A Transitory Regime Water Supply in Conakry, Guinea ), November 1999, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 2362, p. 13〕 Standpipes. Standpipes are an effective option to supply the urban poor with clean water, in the absence of house connections to the piped network. However, in 1997 there were only 170 standpipes in Conakry, some of which were not working. The municipality of Conakry managed the standpipes. The municipality was supposed to pay a fee to the water company for the water it received from the company. The municipality was also supposed to collect fees from standpipe users through caretakers that sold water by the bucket to residents. However, customers expected water from standpipes to be free and the caretakers in charge of the standpipes often provided it for free. The local government, which did not receive any significant revenues from the standpipes, did not pay the water company for the water supply to the standpipes. As a result, the operator cut off water supply to standpipes. Neither the municipality nor the operator was interested in seeing more standpipes being built under this dysfunctional arrangement. The number of standpipes thus remained limited, although they could potentially have provided a large number of poor with clean water at lower costs than house connections. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Water privatization in Guinea」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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