Row over water contract could mean continued shortages

Hundreds of thousands of Dar es Salaam residents could continue to experience acute water shortages if a row between the Tanzanian government and a private international water company remains unresolved. The government announced on Friday it had terminated a 10-year contract with City Water, for what it described as "poor performance". The firm had been contracted to provide water to the estimated three million residents of the city and its neighbouring districts of Kibaha and Bagamoyo. "The water supply services in Dar es Salaam and neighbouring places have deteriorated rather than improve since this firm took over two years ago," Edward Lowassa, the minister for water and livestock development, said at a news conference on Friday when he announced cancellation of the deal. He said City Water had failed to improve water services and sewerage infrastructure, and that the government had acted following "persistent complaints" by city residents. Lowassa also accused City Water of not remitting the collected revenue due to the government and of non-payment of the leasing fee. He said City Water was required to invest $8.5 million during the first two years of operation but had so far only invested $4.1 million. He said a new firm, to be known as Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Corporation, was being formed to take over from City Water. On Tuesday, he met City Water's estimated 1,300 employees, fearful of losing their jobs, and assured them that they would all be absorbed into the new corporation. However, on the same day, City Water Chief Executive Officer Cliff Stone said his company would take legal action to reverse the government's decision. In a statement, Stone said City Water had asked the government to clarify Lowassa's announcement. Stone said City Water considered its 10-year lease contract with the government "still intact". City Water is a joint venture formed by the British water utility, Biwater; the German engineering consultancy, Gauff Ingenieure; and a local firm, Superdoll Trailer Manufacturers Limited. City Water won the contract in February 2003 and began operations on 1 August 2003, serving Dar es Salaam, Kibaha and Bagamoyo. The areas used to be serviced by a state utility. Dar es Salaam residents had hoped City Water's tenure would end their perennial water shortages and the endless queues of women and children drawing water from privately owned boreholes. Some residents frequently paid up to 500 Tanzanian shillings (50 US cents) for a 20-litre bucket of water. "We are used to buying water from vendors, and what is worse is the fact that we are not sure of the safety and cleanliness of the water," Ali Ramadhani, a city resident, told IRIN on Wednesday. "It could have been fetched from dirty ponds." A teacher in the city, Tumaini Kunjumu, told IRIN that she, like hundreds of thousand other residents, was yet to benefit from the services of City Water. "These people were concentrating in the city centre where the affluent live," she said. "Those of us in the so-called squatter areas away from the city centre have for decades been living without public supplied water."