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dam-l Africa's water must be affordable/LS



Africa's water 'must be affordable'

                               Business Day (Johannesburg)
                               December 10, 1999
                               By Louise Cook

                               Johannesburg - Africa, including SA, cannot
simply be a regulator of water services and leave
                               service delivery to the private sector as in
developed countries, Water Affairs and Forestry Minister
                               Ronnie Kasrils said yesterday.

                               He was addressing delegates from several
African cities in Johannesburg yesterday. He said that in
                               Africa, unlike in developed nations, the
affordability of water was important. "Where will we go if
                               everything is based on a profit motive?" he
asked.

                               Kasrils addressed a news briefing on a
United Nations Centre for Human Settlements project called
                               Managing Water for African Cities. The
project aims for sustainable water management demand
                               strategies, conservation and pollution control.

                               Kasrils said private and public partnerships
in the delivery of water services were important and
                               existed in SA. "But in serving the poorest
of the poor there is little cost recovery. We need to be
                               careful how we handle such partnerships; in
Africa, the state needs to carry a special responsibility
                               for the overwhelming numbers of poor."

                               He said the state must intervene since the
private sector cannot provide water for all.

                               UN Centre for Human Settlements
representative Andre Dzikus warned of possible wars over water.
                               He said water could become more expensive
than oil if strategists continued with their
                               "business-as-usual" approach. "What we will
see is a water shock like the oil shock of the 1970sŠ.
                               This could lead to water riots or even water
wars.

                               "Already, the poor in many African citiesŠ
have to pay 10 to 100 times more than their richer
                               counterparts."



                               Copyright (c) 1999 Business Day. Distributed
via Africa News Online (www.africanews.org). For information about
                               the content or for permission to
redistribute, publish or use for broadcast, contact the publisher.

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      Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
        and Editor, World Rivers Review
           International Rivers Network
              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org
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