NGO ActionAid UK claims that city-dwellers in one of Africa’s poorest countries have faced soaring bills and mass disconnections since the Dar es Salaam Water and Sanitation Authority was leased to a consortium called City Water [2], in 2003. According to their new report [1], ActionAid says that water privatisation in Dar es Salaam has neglected the needs of poor people, despite the World Bank’s assurances that access to water for poor residents would be improved.

ActionAid claims that City Water disconnects whole areas in an attempt to get people with illegal connections to pay up. They found that poor families are turning to unsafe water supplies rather than pay the increased bills. "Donors have been pushing through a project in which 98% of the investment will go to the areas where the richest 20% of the population live," said Billy Abimbilla, director of ActionAid Tanzania. "This is a project that was supposed to help the poor. The figures tell a different story."

[1] Greenhill, R. and Wekiya, I. (2004). Turning off the taps : donor conditionality and water privatisation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. London, UK, ActionAid. 20 p. : 4 boxes, photogr. 21 ref. Download PDF file (640 KB).

[2] City Water consists of the British firm Biwater, Gauff from Germany and Superdoll from Tanzania. Source: The East African, 4 Oct 2004.

Web site: ActionAid - Conditionality and privatisation; Public Citizen- Water Report Tanzania

Contact: Romilly Greenhill, ActionAid UK, rgreenhill@actionaid.org.uk ; City Water Services Limited, Tanzania, info@citywater-tz.com ; Ms. Judy O'Connor, World Bank, Tanzania, Joconnor1@worldbank.org

Source: ActionAid, 27 Sep 2004

Tags: financing