Water & Corruption News

The Global Public Policy Network (GPPN) on water management was established by Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future, to help ensure a successful review of water and sanitation at the 16th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development taking place in May 2008.

Little guidance has been provided to member states and stakeholders as to how the review will be conducted. To address this deficit, to identify core messages and focus on a limited number of achievable deliverables, the GPPN secretariat is calling for stakeholder inputs until the end of April 2008.

Click here for more information on how to contribute into this review process.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) got the second highest ranking out of 30 international organisations in the 2007 Global Accountability Report. In a reaction the NGO Forum on ADB said “it is insulting to all communities affected by poorly implemented ADB-funded projects”.

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India needs to invest an estimated additional US$ 500 billion during the next plan to close its “massive infrastructure deficit”. However, if the under-pricing of utilities, politcial patronage and poor management are not addressed, this may not be enough, says a World Bank representative.

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A three-day regional workshop on transparency in the water sector, held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, during 3-5 November 2007, has called for the effective control of corruption.

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The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is accused of failing to properly manage Islamabad’s sewer system. It opted for a “hugely over-priced French sewerage system” without first rehabilitating the crumbling sewerage lines, and without considering alternative decentralised sanitation options.

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Corruption in infrastructure leads to big losses. Estimates of the share of construction spending lost to bribe payments around the world range from 5 per cent to more than 20 per cent. It is important to reduce the financial cost of corruption by limiting bribe payments. But even more important is to ensure that corruption does not reduce the quantity and quality of infrastructure provision. Output-based aid (OBA) is a tool that can help achieve these goals.

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The one-year-old Mavoko-EPZA Water and Sewerage Company in Kenya is in the spotlight over allegations of corruption in water billing and disquiet among employees, news media in Kenya reported.

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Mexican steel tubing provider General de Tubos y Aceros accuses water commission CAEM of illegally granting deadline extensions in awarding a steel tubing procurement contract to a bid from rival companies Tubesa and Tumex.

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Zimbabwe's urban residents have to grease the palms of officials to ensure they can get access to water supply and sanitation services. In Namibia community members manning water points in villages should be paid for their work, says Henock Kankoshi, a Swapo MP in the National Council.

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Transparency International is calling for summaries of research on corruption in the water sector, which will be the focus of its annual flagship publications, the Global Corruption Report 2008.

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