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| National |
| Water Boards not for sale—Malewezi |
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by
Aubrey Mchulu, 22 August 2003
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13:25:52
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Vice President Justin Malewezi said on Friday government is not thinking of selling Blantyre and Lilongwe water boards but instead wants the urban water utilities to cover their own costs.
Malewezi told journalists after opening a day-long stakeholders’ privatisation and utility reform project mid-term review workshop in Blantyre that utilities are complex and before any decision is made there is need to balance economic aspects and social aspects.
“We are not thinking of privatising the water boards but we are looking at the [urban] water boards taking a more commercial approach to be able to stand on their own and cover their own costs,” he said, adding that in that way their services would not deteriorate as has been the case.
But Malewezi, who is also Minister of Privatisation, said there is no question of privatisation or commercialisation for rural water boards as they are part of government’s social responsibility.
He said with support from the donor-funded projects, the urban water boards have been able to expand facilities, extended their service coverage and introduced measures to improve efficiency.
Malewezi told the stakeholders that the financial conditions of the boards has deteriorated in recent years despite tariff increases hence the need to improve performance of the water boards so that the poor can be served better and the growing demand for water can be met.
Malewezi statement comes barely five months after Privatisation Commission’s Director of Operations Charlie Msusa said government was studying a report of a study on whether or not it should give the Commission a go-ahead to sell Blantyre and Lilongwe water boards.
Malewezi also said a survey conducted for the 1997 World Development Report identified the deterioration of Malawi’s infrastructure and resulting low and unreliable service coverage as one of the principle constraints to the private sector development.
He said the survey found the coverage of telecommunications services to be “poor, unreliable and expensive” while low tariffs were seen to be retarding system development and increased access to electricity due to Escom’s declining operating and financial performance.
In his address, World Bank official Donald Mphande, representing the World Bank Country Manager Dunstain Wai, said while reforms in the water sector have whole-heartedly been embraced by the Ministry of Water Development, government and other stakeholders, there is need that a champion for further advancement of such reforms in the sector is identified for it to benefit from options currently under discussion.
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