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Ghana
World Bank Approves Ghana Water Privatization Loan
In an unprecedented slippery move, the World Bank approved a $103 million dollar loan for the privatization of Ghana's urban water system, 2 months before the projected Board date. Despite three years of active civil society opposition to the water privatization scheme, the World Bank has continued to push forward with the plan. At least four major multinational companies have expressed interest in bidding for the contract: Biwater, Suez, Vivendi (now called Veolia) and Saur. While the World Bank has approved the loan, the Ghanaian government has still not formally opened the bidding process. The Ghana National Coalition Against the Privatisation of Water says that resistance to the privatization of water will continue and the ultimate objective is clear: we must ensure that access to potable water is available to all and guaranteed as a human right.
Privatization Tidal Wave
In July, the World Bank approved a new $110 million structural adjustment loan for Ghana. Before disbursing the loan, however, the Bank forced the government of Ghana to implement seven “prior actions,” including a requirement to “increase electricity and water tariffs by 96 percent and 95 percent, respectively, to cover operating costs.” The effort to attain “full cost recovery” is a prerequisite to privatization. Private companies want to operate systems where consumers meet the expenses of running the systems and pay enough for company profits, too. Pressured by the World Bank, the government of Ghana plans to lease the Ghana Water Company to two as yet undetermined multinational water companies to provide urban water service. The World Bank included water privatization as one of many conditions that determined the extent of Ghana’s access to the portfolio of loans in the World Bank’s Country Assistance Strategy (CAS).
Report
from "Defend the Global Commons"
Accra
Declaration
Christian
Aid report on water privatization in Ghana (pdf)
"Why
Water Privatization in Ghana Must Be Stopped," Report
from Ghana National Coalition Against Privatisation of
Water (pdf)
International
Sign-on letters to IMF and World
Bank
Response
from IMF
IWWG
responds to the IMF
The
Ghana National Coalition Against Privatisation of Water
responds to the World Bank
Just
the Facts Water-related Conditions attached to IMF and
World Bank loans
Action
Alert
Report
from the International Fact Finding Mission to Ghana (pdf)
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