|
|
Cartagena, Colombia: Drinking water supply and sewer system in the El Pozón quarter
In 1995 Aguas de Barcelona (AgBar) entered a joint venture with the Municipality of Cartagena (represented today by the Mayor and the Office of Community Participation) to create Aguas de Cartagena (Acuacar). These work together in El Pozn, one of the Municipality's poorest districts, whose residents are represented by Community Committees (Juntas de Accin Comunal & Juntas Administradoras Locales who have signed agreements with Acuacar). MPDL, an international NGO, under contract to Acuacar conducted surveys in El Pozn - they have since ceased their involvement in the project. The World Bank, via a loan to the Municipality, supports the development of W&S infrastructure in Cartagena. A Bogota-based regulator and a citizen watchdog group, FUNCICAR, also play minor roles.
The El Pozn pilot project is divided into the following components: i) surveys in the community; ii) construction of the infrastructure; iii) education and awareness campaigns targeting community buy-in (and hence greater cost recovery) and iv) modifications to the customer service programme to facilitate better operator-customer relations. As part of the World Bank loan, Acuacar will undertake a major $2.0m investment programme to radically improve water supply to El Pozn and a $4.3m investment to provide sanitation to the whole area. A pilot project is expected to begin in El Pozn in 2001 under which payments will be collected weekly instead of monthly via mobile collection teams.
Since the early 1990s Colombia has experienced protracted economic recession exacerbated by worsening armed conflict. Cartagena itself has become a major destination for displaced persons, making up a high proportion of El Pozn. Colombian decentralisation has given municipalities responsibility for public services. In 1994, following many years of chronic inefficiency and poor quality of service, the Mayor of Cartagena decided to liquidate the public water and sewerage utility to create a new public-private mixed capital enterprise. The World Bank provided technical assistance to help the process. In December 1994, after a public bidding process, Aguas de Barcelona was selected as the partner of the municipality and a mixed enterprise, Acuacar, was created. The entire restructuring has been strongly opposed by the trade unions - as a result the incoming management team of Acuacar needed military protection in order to enter their offices in 1995. Political and economic instability has been heightened by Cartagena having four different mayors over four years. Since its creation Acuacar has achieved significant improvements in operational performance and is now on a sound commercial footing.
The number of people living in El Pozn is about 50,000. Many within the community are 'displaced persons' - deteriorating social cohesiveness is a problem and as a result local power structures are in flux. Although Acuacar enjoys fairly high popularity due to recent improvements in services and efficiency, local politicians have agitated against the company.
The existing pipe network in El Pozn was inadequate and insufficient - many connections were illegal. Water supply was intermittent and most residents used to buy their water from unregulated private water vendors. Other sources were an intermittent but unreliable supply of free water from Acuacar tankers, and rainwater during the rainy season. Objectives and Structures of Partnership
The primary objective of the project is, through experimentation in a pilot programme, to work with community leaders in El Pozn to regularise the provision of W&S. The programme tests the tri-sector approach to determine if it could be replicated in other peri-urban districts. Listed objectives include the following: i) to improve the quality of life and health of 50,000 least privileged people in El Pzon quarter, south-east Cartagena; ii) to design and carry out educational campaigns for the rational use of water and to recover the service costs by subsidies; iii) to form micro-enterprises helping the inhabitants of the area to join the labour market; iv) to build aqueduct and sewerage systems to provide 100% coverage with regularised service.
Relations between the three stakeholder groups as a partnership are less formalised and more likely to be carried out as bi-sector relationships rather than an overarching tri-sector arrangement. The primary relationships between the Municipality and the Company are through the contract and the Board of Directors. The relationship between Acuacar and the community is largely carried out by a special unit in the company devoted to community affairs. Roles and Responsibilities
The division of R&Rs is still by and large being determined between the different stakeholders. The Mayor is the director of the Acuacar Board of Directors and contributes to expansion and project planning decisions. In general the public sector procures and manages investment funds (from central government or World Bank - though Acuacar dispenses the WB loan). It also integrates W&S into wider initiatives. The Office of Community Participation works on a variety of initiatives - focussing on employment generation programmes (though recently more active on W&S issues). Acuacar manages day-to-day operations and is responsible for the design & implementation of expansion plans. It also supports the education and awareness campaigns. Various Juntas work with the council (an advisory and monitoring role). They may help organise community labour & collections and participate in educational campaigns and other activities.
Largely occurs between the Juntas and Acuacar's 'Departamento de Atencin a las Comunidades'1. This community liaison office is also responsible for resolving conflicts with external parties. Local committees may facilitate community labour elements, etc. Communications and Feedback
The continuous change in mayor and municipal staff has created numerous problems in terms of partnership functioning and project implementation - Acuacar is continuously in the process of re-establishing communications with the municipality. Meetings and workshops update the new municipal teams. The community affairs unit ensures smoother communications with the communities, though local political agitation has been a problem. Evolution & Institutionalisation
Acuacar's performance and efficiency has improved over the last 6 years, due to more reliable services and providing customer satisfaction and dialogue, whilst the severe flux on the municipality side has seen Acuacar increasingly 'carrying' the partnership. Poorer communities also seem to command increasing attention from politicians. As for institutionalisation, apart from the establishment of the community liaison office within Acuacar, it may be too early to judge.
The water project was completed in July 2001 and a legalisation campaign is currently being implemented. It is too early to identify and measure specific partnership results, development impacts, and attainment of goals. Poverty alleviation will be monitored as a social indicator through W&S connections and employment generated. The NGO and municipality undertook qualitative studies to measure perceptions, requirements and expectations, assessment of demand, and more basic community statistics to establish a baseline. Surveys are being developed to determine the level of satisfaction for each element of the service.
A significant strength seems to be the commitment and appropriateness of company staff. Otherwise the partnership is still strengthening. Next Steps and Replicability
Consolidating the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders, working on the capacity building needed by the municipality and looking closer at an NGO role may be helpful. It is too early to consider replicability, though this is a key interest of Acuacar.
Possible lessons are that:
- high public staff rotation and shifting municipal priorities are very destabilising - a stable and consistent partner group is critical
- joint-venture arrangements can blur responsibilities
- an imbalance of power amongst partners can hinder equitable partnership
- early buy-in from local leaders is important and may be achievable via empowerment, training and capacity building exercises.
Synopsis content update: 07 February 2002 |
|
|