World Summit on Sustainable Development Department of Public Information - News and Media Services Division - New York
	Johannesburg, South Africa 26 August-4 September 2002	31 August 2002

PRESS CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS FOR DEVELOPMENT -- WATER AND SANITATION   The world's current investment of $15 billion per year in water development must be doubled to halve the number of people lacking water services, Jamal Saghir, Director of the World Bank's Energy and Water Division, said at the World Summit today. Some 1.1 billion people still lacked adequate water, 4 billion had no waste disposal, and 3 million children died each year from water-related diseases, said Mr. Saghir, who was briefing correspondents on Business Partnerships for Development -- Water and Sanitation. Sanitation was becoming a huge challenge in rural areas, where populations were swelling with the shift from urban centres, Mr. Saghir said. To find a speedy solution to that growing crisis, the Business Partnerships for Development, made up of non-governmental organizations, the private sector, the World Bank and other donors, had been working together on projects for the past few years. It served as a forum for debate on how best to reach the poor in terms of subsidies, capacity-building and other assistance, with partners working together transferring knowledge and analysis. To that end, the World Bank had built up a portfolio of $20 million. Joining Mr. Saghir at the press conference was Ravi Narayaman, Director of the non-governmental organization, Water Aid, who noted that the Partnership's main aim was to ensure that water and sanitation needs of the poor were met. Stakeholders had been brought together in eight specific partnerships in South America, the Caribbean, South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia. Also attending the briefing was Douglas Smith, Business Manager of the private sector company, Thames Water Southern Africa. His company was granted a concession to improve water supply for 1,600 households in eastern Jakarta, Indonesia in 1997. The company began independently, but later joined the Partnerships to learn from the experiences of non-governmental organizations and government, he explained. A correspondent commented on a recent private sector project to provide water services in Bolivia that had failed, but citizens who hadn't subscribed to it were not allowed to dig wells or take water from the earth. What choices did the poor have and who owned the water, he asked? Mr. Smith replied that water was a public asset, and that partnerships would improve past conditions. Governments were responsible for legislating and drawing up conditions for partnerships, but the poor must be built into any dialogue from the beginning. Asked what the private sector received out of water concessions, Mr. Narayaman said it was not always possible to supply the poor with water and make a reasonable return. When the community was involved in water maintenance, costs could be reduced and the tariff for services brought down.   Press Conferences Summit News