Project may trigger `water wars' in the city

Project may trigger `water wars' in the city

The Hindu

People may end up paying a hefty sum for supply of water


BANGALORE: The Rs. 658-crore Greater Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Project (GBWASP) to address the water supply needs could spark "water wars" that will no longer permit water to be considered as a resource to which every citizen is entitled to.

A study by the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) on plans to privatise water supply has seen red in the manner in which a new component of privatisation of operation and maintenance through "management contracts" has been factored into the project, which has already snowballed into a controversy in New Delhi.

ALF researcher Clifton d'Rozario told presspersons here on Friday that the GBWASP, a scheme to cover the eight urban local bodies (ULBs) in Bangalore — Bommanahalli, Byatarayanapura, Dasarahalli, Krishnarajapuram, Mahadevarpura, Rajarajeshwarinagar, Yelahanka and Kengeri Town Municipal Council, to cover a 13 lakh population spread over 240 sq km has seen massive cost escalation in the concept stage itself.

These areas are dependent on groundwater, through tube wells and borewells.

According to the BWSSB, the water supply is in the range of 20 to 25 litres per capita per day, well below the national standard.

The BWSSB services about 6 per cent of the total area of the urban local bodies.

The Rs. 658.55-crore project includes a water supply component of Rs. 340.55 crores. But several additions of civil works have raised the cost to Rs. 400.62 crores.

The alarming portents of the project, as has been the experience the world over, wherever privatisation of water has been attempted, according the ALF, is the privatisation of O&M (operations and maintenance).

This means that the role of the BWSSB ends after water connections are provided to each citizen who has paid the "beneficiary contribution." Post-connection, the private company will take charge and play the role of the BWSSB, which includes regulation and monitoring of water supply, billing, maintenance, repair, disconnection and so on.

Residential units/apartments or individual homes will have to pay between Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 15,000 a year depending on the area of the dwelling units.

And that's only the beginning. There is no talk about the poor people in urban areas and slum dwellers and how their water needs will be met.

The funds for the project will come from the following sources — beneficiary contributions from citizens of the eight ULBs, Rs. 179.52 crores, loan under the Mega City scheme Rs. 46.82 crores, State Government grant Rs. 74.28 crores, market borrowings Rs. 100 crores.

In another first, the voluntary agency Janaagraha has been roped in to bring in "structured" participation.

It signed a memorandum of understanding with the State Government, KUIDFC, BWSSB and the ULBs on May 21, 2005 to ensure citizens' participation in a formal and institutionalised manner.

This exercise is called the Participatory Local Area Capital Expenditure.

ALF questions the idea of making a single organisation the custodian of people's participation in governance.