By IPS Correspondents
NEW DELHI, Nov 6 2005 (IPS)

India’s new right-to-information laws have drawn first blood – secret deals involving the World Bank to privatise water supply and sanitation in the Indian capital.

Parliament passed a right to information bill in May but, by then, several states had already gone ahead with legislations of their own so that the culture of demanding to know what is going on is gradually taking root.

Credit for exposing the water supply and sanitation deal must go to ‘Parivartan’ (meaning ‘change’), a voluntary organisation based in the capital, which obtained and publicised several official documents of the ‘Delhi Water Supply and Sewerage Project’ that records deals between the state utility, Delhi Jal (Water) Board (DJB) and the Bank.

The project’s stated aim is to make available reliable, 24-hour water supply but the documents obtained by Parivartan reveal that this does not include removing existing inequitites in water supply but offers plenty of scope for super-profits for a few water companies.

Arvind Kesarival, founder of Parivartan told IPS: “On the one hand there is room for exorbitant earnings for some companies and their experts, which will push up costs, and on the other hand there is growing insistence on recovering costs. The net result will be to steeply push up the water bills of ordinary people and deny water to the poorest people who can’t afford the heavy bills.”

The management of each of 21 zones would be handed over to water companies which will collect management fees, engineering consultancy fees and a bonus.

Management fees alone, at 24,400 US dollars per month to each expert, would work out to more than 25 million dollars a year. Each water company has been given a lot of say in deciding its own annual operating budget and there are provisions for upward revision which can be misused to make extravagant demands on the government. “There is no upper limit on operational expenses,’’ said Kesarival.

And it will be the consumers who pick up the bill. Parivartan’s calculation is that, if the project is accepted, a typical family may find its water bills increasing five times over.

There is a heavy emphasis on reducing non-revenue water. In practical terms, this translates into making water so expensive that poor people’s access to water will be badly affected, despite statements that some subsidies will be maintained for the poor.

Each zone will be divided into several District Metering Areas or DMAs and the performance evaluation of each company would be based on delivery to the DMAs rather than individual households. The possibility also remains that water could diverted from each DMA to high-tariff consumers like hotels while households are neglected.

Several voluntary organisations, residents’ welfare organisations, experts and citizens have now come together in Delhi to form the ‘Right to Water Campaign’ (RWC) to oppose this project. In a statement, the RWC said if this project is implemented “water would become virtually inaccessible to the poor.”

Madhu Bhaduri, convenor of RWC (and India’s former ambassador to Portugal) asserts: “There has been a remarkable mobilisation of people in Delhi to prevent the implementation of this project which can lead to the denial of the most basic need to many poor people. Eminent experts and senior people in government have shared our concerns about this project”.

Water engineers and management experts from prestigious institutes like the Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management recently assembled in Delhi to publicly voice their criticism of the project. They have also offered their help in formulating a new project which is capable of solving Delhi’s water problems.

The World Bank is considering a loan of 150 million dollars, spread over a period of six years, at commercial rates of interest, for this project. At one time it was reported that the loan was about to be approved but due to the recent controversy a final decision has been postponed.

But what shocked DJB engineers was that the Bank, which provided a 2.5 million dollar loan for hiring a consultant, insisted that its own candidate Price Waterhouse Coopers, which failed to get short-listed, be accommodated.

Though senior DJB officers objected, the Bank got its way and made changes to the selection criteria, after the bids were opened, to get its candidate accommodated.

‘’Can fair play and protection of citizens’ concerns be ensured when key consultants are selected in this way?” asks Kesarival, pointing out that the Bank has ‘’not been transparent is sharing its information on the project.”

The RWC has demanded that the Delhi Government should immediately withdraw its loan application to the World Bank for carrying out reforms in the water sector. “We believe that water is a natural right of every living being on this planet, including humans and that private multinational companies cannot be given control over water to earn profits, as is being proposed under this project,” it has stated in an open letter to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Bhaduri asserts, “We are confident, on the basis of talks with senior government functionaries, that this project can be stopped. Effective presentations have been made before the Planning Commission and the Delhi Government. The Government is seeking the opinion of the Planning Commission for consulting some expert bodies.”

She adds, “This project is structurally flawed and so cursory changes cannot redeem it. Once we get rid of this anti-poor project, we can work for an alternative pro-people plan to improve the water supply in Delhi.”

Parivartan and RWC organised a public hearing on this project in Delhi on Oct. 17, to which the World bank and DJB were invited but did not send their representatives.

On the other hand prominent citizens and activists such as Aruna Roy, founder of the MKSS and the well-known author and essayist, Arundhati Roy, were present and appreciated the efforts of the RWC. At the hearing, reports of mismanagement from cities of many developing countries where water supply has been handed over to private companies, were aired.

Examples from South Africa, Bolivia, Columbia and other countries where water tariffs have risen steeply and where poor people have lost their connection were made available to the still unsuspecting public in the Indian capital.

A cholera epidemic which broke out in August 2000 in the province of Kwazulu Natal, infecting 14000 people and claiming more than 250 lives, and linked to the decision of authorities to cut water supplies to people living in informal settlements and unable to afford user fees was cited.

Pointed out was the fact that public-private partnerships in water and sanitation have grown from almost zero to over 2300 in the last 10 to 12 years.

Aruna Roy, a leader in the campaign to get enacted the right to information laws said: “This entire episode shows the great utility of the right to information in preventing flawed projects and policies before any damage is done. This is possible when right to information laws empower citizens to access detailed and reliable, authentic information.”

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