Africa/Global: Water privatisation fails to fulfil its promises

Developing countries are increasingly under pressure from international development institutions to privatise their water supplies. Yet privatisation has failed to produce its expected benefits. Research from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) warns that privatisation is unlikely to contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people without access to water and sanitation by 2015. Despite its prominence in current debates only around five per cent of the world’s population is served by the formal private sector.