From a World Bank document: What has been Learned from Previous Bank/IDA Involvement.
Bank experience in the infrastructure sector in Angola consists of work done in Luanda as part of the Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Engineering Project (IRE) and in Lobito- Benguela as part of the Lobito-Benguela Urban Environmental Rehabilitation Project (LBUER). Both projects were approved in early 1992. Even though these projects have not been completed, the lessons - limited institutional capacity of the governmental agencies to introduce realistic reforms, the lack of an adequate financing structure, and limited human resource capacity - reinforce the experience from similar projects in other countries. In addition, to be sustainable, the operationalization of national sectoral policies and investment programs should be implemented locally to reflect the needs, and constraints, of the local communities and institutions and to ensure their economic viability.
The most significant of these lessons is the need for the Government to develop and implement a policy and regulatory framework for the water supply sector that encourages replacing existing inefficient water supply institutions with administratively and financially autonomous utilities and, where appropriate, erienced private sector firms. A second lesson is the need for the Government to consistently implement a tariff policy designed to recover the cost of the perations from the users. Additional lessons learned concern the need to involve communities in designing and managing the delivery of services, that the mplementing capacity of the Government, of the various agencies and the local NGOs is very weak, and to use "appropriate technology" in order to minimize the life cycle cost of providing water and other urban services to the users. As a result, efforts must be made to increase the human resource and institutional capacity in the sector and where possible, to begin to transfer as many operational responsibilities to private companies, and to provide assistance to the NGOs and communities to improve their capacity to develop and manage urban services.
I have no time to comment now, but it is sad. The Bank has been investing billions in Africa for sixty years, and this is what it has learned? I can say that I know of no country in Africa where this strategy of training of government officers and writing laws and regulations has succeeded. And "appropriate technology" - again? It has been a total fiasco since that sick idea was conceived.OK j, what do YOU advise? I think that the Argentine model worked for seventy years and could be adopted. In 1880 the Generacion del Ochenta took power in Argentina and formed an alliance with the British, who were the dominant power of those days. They invited the London bankers to build, own and operate basic infrastructure, including railroads, water and sewage, electricity, etc. Freely and for ever. Suddenly the country became one of the most prosperous of the world.
That was till 1950, when the British became so poor that they had to sell everything, and Juan Peron bought their properties in ARgentina for food and hard currency. Since the "nationalization" nothing works in Argentina.
What is needed is the Argentinian Model of 1880 and seventy years of ideological and political stability.
6 comments:
Exactly.
Expatriates to build, own and sell the utility; but sell it to whom?
The locals will not pay for services/utilities (check out the situation in South Africa) but will "demand it" as a "human right".
The trade-off has to be something else of value to attract and retain the foreign expertise.
Oil? Minerals? Diamonds? Angola has plenty.
Some sort of a deal should be possible.
As I said, J, there could be real opportunities there.
Anon.
Build, own, operate - forever.
There is no human right to travel in train, to have electricity or to have water - for nothing. If they imagine so, they'll have none.
Angola, like ARgentina, has the natural resources to buy the infrastructure if nationalism makes it necesary.
The problem is the instability of local regimes. The world bank could guarantee foreign investments in Angola, but them it should have gunships to collect the debts, as British bankers had in their time.
I did some googling and I came across the wikipage "Foriegn Relations of Angola" which contains this as its first line:
The foreign relations of Angola are based on Angola's strong support of U.S. foreign policy as the Angolan economy is dependent on U.S. foreign aid.
Thinking about the matter, you said the WB was run by the US, which would mean the US has not learned anything over the last 60 years, or at least the US State Department hasn't learned anything over the last 60 years.
I think the solution is a variant of what Anon suggested. We could offer to build and operate a simple national water infrastructure for the Angolans for as long as Angola's oil held out, which should be several decades. Reading the wikiarticle on the Angolan economy one thingI remember is that Angola cannot improve its agriculture sector because so much of the countryside is infested with landmines. Demining sould be at least as important, if not more important, than a national water supply system. It is a horrible thing for a child to step one a landmine and be killed. It is often worse for the child to live through the explosion.
Anyway, I need to go to bed. Thinking about Angola isn't going to make my sleep any better.
Since the "nationalization" nothing works in Argentina.
I have to wonder about that. By all rights Argentina should have a functioning electric grid and should be a model for the world. State owned power companies in France, Britain, Apartheid South Africa, the Soviet Union(!), and the Tennessee valley in the USA all seem to function OK even if they are not perfect.
Hell, my house receives electricity from a state-owned irrigation/electricity district (SRP) and their service is excellent. Granted, SRP built its network instead of nationalizing it, but it is still a state owned entity.
Hell, Argentina actually constructed nuclear reactors of its own design, which is even better than Mexico.
I need to stop thinking about third world countries.
Salut!
"The most precious resource in the world economy is human genius, which we may define as the ability to devise significant inventions that enhance survival and prosperity. At any one time, genius is embodied in just a few score thousand people, a creative minority that accounts for most human accomplishment and wealth."
C-J.
I agree, Eshenberg, but you also need a cadre of competent people to make small adaptations, and to keep things running smoothly. Africa is short of these people.
Anon.
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