Ghanaian Government Ends Contract with Water Supply Company

The contested public-private contract with the water supply company, Aqua Vitens Rand Limited in Ghana, has not been extended. The company, which took over the operation of Ghana’s urban water supply in 2006, was supposed to improve the accountability of water delivery over the last five years.

Water consumers and civil society organisations harshly criticized Aqua Vitens for failing to meet the clear targets set at the beginning of the contract. Based on the company’s poor performance the government decided no to renew the five year contract, which automatically expired in May this year.

The communications director of Aqua Vitens questioned the reason put forward by the Ghanaian Minister of Water Resources. He claims that Aqua Vitens remains competent to improve Ghana’s urban water supply.

Sources: Kapitel 97; AllAfrica.com

Sudan: peacekeepers to appeal for US$ 1.43 billion for Darfur water projects

The United Nations and African Union mission in Darfur said it will work with Sudan’s government to try to raise US$ 1.43 billion for water projects in the western Sudanese region at a donors conference in June.

“The scarcity of water and lack of water management in Darfur, compounded with a fast-growing population, has contributed to conflict in Darfur,” the peacekeeping mission, based in El Fasher in North Darfur state, said today in an e- mailed statement.

The conference, organized by the UN and the Sudanese government, aims to attract more than 200 participants to fund 56 water projects, according to the statement. The event will be held in the capital, Khartoum, June 27 and 28, it said.

Source: Maram Mazen, Bloomberg, 12 May 2011

South Africa: landmark ruling on right to sanitation ends Cape Town “toilet wars”

With a high court ruling supporting South Africa’s constitutional right to sanitation, Cape Town’s “brutal – and farcical – toilet wars” have come to an end. Protesters from the Makhaza neighbourhood of the black township Khalelitsha, that was at the centre of the dispute, greeted the court decision with cheers.

Activists queue outside the Cape Town mayor Dan Plato's office on Freedom Day, 27 April 2011 to demand better access to basic sanitation in Khayelitsha and other informal settlements. Photo: Nardus Engelbrecht / Sapa

On 29 April 2011, the Western Cape High Court ruled that the city government must build enclosures around government-provided toilets in Makhaza, ending a two-year dispute that had become a heated political issue between the country’s two largest political parties.

It might seem like a small matter, but with local elections planned for May 18 [2011] across the country, the court decision is likely to become a matter of national political discussion, if not significance. Cape Town is run by South Africa’s second-largest political party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), an opponent of the ruling African National Congress (ANC)