Endless wait for Delhi's water reforms

New Delhi: Communists and Non-Government Organisations were in full throttle last year against reforms that the Delhi government had proposed for the water sector. Such was the intensity of the backlash that the government has not recovered from it yet.

Last year's backlash has set back much-needed water sector reforms in Delhi, there still being no management contract, or no Public-Private Partnership.

On asking if there will be Public-Private partnership in the near future, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit says it looks like a no no "at the moment".

The protesters were angry at the government's intention of giving five-year management contracts to private parties for two south Delhi zones and a part of NDMC, where Delhi's power elite live.

In all, 12 per cent of Delh's connections were to be metered. Delhi has enough water, but the supply is irregular because around half the water is lost to leaks and theft.

An equal amount if not metered, the Delhi Jal Board makes losses, and can’t invest. Public-Private partnership was thus being considered to be the way out.

Pradeep Singh, the President & CEO of ILFS IDC says, "The government does not have the incentives or the accountability. The government is not good at being a provider. It is good at being a regulator. We need Public-Private partnership, which is not the same as privatisation. PPP is the way to go."

The Chief Minister has not given up. She is trying to create public opinion for water reforms. A group of experts has been formed, but at the moment she does not want to attempt anything that is politically risky.

"There are a lot of misconceptions. What we are now concentrating on is trying to reform internally with own people and own resources," says CM Dikshit.

This is likely to be a stop gap measure. For tap water to be clean, there has to be continuous pressured supply that means raising tarrifs, metering the supply and improving the pipeline network. Experience suggests that the Delhi Jal Board will not be up to it.

The setback to Delhi's power reforms were a failure of communication. Leftists and NGOs, some of them from the National Advisory Committee gave management contracts a bad name by terming them as privatisation.

They also derailed reforms by quibbling about peripheral issues like the fee to be paid to be consultant suggested by the World Bank. Even the party did not support the government and party leaders used the process to settle scores.

But the lessons though, have not been lost. Hyderabad is putting the Delhi experience to good use.