Private sector: potential water crisis solution

The Technical Secretariat recently held a workshop of private sector investors and government members, in collaboration with the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), at the Mövenpick hotel in Sana’a, in order to discuss the Urban Water Sector of Water and Environment.
 
The workshop was held on the over the course of 2-3 of March. It aimed to evaluate the usefulness of the private sector partnership as well as the communication strategy within the water services and sanitation services of the urban areas of Yemen
 
In the opening session Mr. Benson Ateng, the World Bank Yemeni Manager, spoke of the importance of the partnership between the public and private sectors within various fields, including the water and sanitation sections. In particular, Mr. Ateng referred to the poor water services within Yemen, noting that Sana’a and Taiz governorate suffer from increasingly sharp depletions in their water recourses.
 
Dr. Tomas Inglehardt, the Office Manger of GTZ in Yemen, explained how German experiences contain many successful examples of collaboration between the private and public sectors. Specifically, Inglehardt referred to the support the German government and the GTZ were willing to provide within the partnership between the public and private sectors. He also assured all relevant members that the German government and the GTZ are supporting the firmly committed to partnership between the public and private sectors.
 
The sanitation projects have been expanded recently, covering the majority of Yemeni cities. Hussain al-Junaid, the Deputy Minister of Water and Environment, referred to the success of many partnership projects, such as the Green Belt project in al-Hodaidah province. Al-Junaid spoke of his desire to see the individuals present at the workshop reach tangible conclusions that would assist in the cauterizing of the attrition of water resources.  Although he recognized the multitude of challenges such initiatives face, al-Jundaid assured the partnership that success in water conservation and sanitation is possible with a promising chance for success.
 
Engineer Anwer Sahooly, the acting team leader of the Technical Secretariat for Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform in Yemen, explained the options within the partnership between the public and private sectors. Sahooly spoke of outsourced projects, where the government provides the services and allows the private sector to handle tasks such as billing and collecting. He also spoke of management contracts, where the private sector would handle the management of the water project for a period of 5 years. After that period of time, the lease contracts would make the private sector responsible for additional maintenance for a period of 10-15 years.
 
“Yemen is not yet qualified for other options such as concession contracts, where the private sector handles all of the tasks, from general governance to basic collection,” Sahooly said. He added, “A performance improvement contract will be signed between the Ministry of Water and Environment and the World Bank. The local corporation of water will be funded by approximately $2 million USD.”
 
This grant is for the improvement of many of the main indicators, such as the minimization of lost water. The amount of lost or wasted water in Sana’a often reaches over 35%. The project aims to minimize the loss by roughly 5-10%, as well as improve the quality of the water and increases the quantity provided to each individual household.
 
Sahooly also spoke about seawater reclamation and the difficulties associated with desalinization, such as the amount of extra salt ejected by the process. Such actions would also increase the cost of water distribution in higher elevation provinces, such as Taiz and Sana’a.
 
The workshop sought to encourage the private sector investment within water supplies and the creation of a governing monitor body that would supervise the services provided to citizens.

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