En regning for regn

Et par links vedrørende en sag fra 2000 fra Cochabamba i Bolivia, om privatisering af vand, i forbindelse med en tidligere diskussion. Simon og Andreas, here's looking at you, kids. - Apparently there IS no end to the possibilities...

Et citat fra Justbiz:

"In 1999 water privatisation was part of a package of reforms required by the World Bank so that Bolivia could receive debt relief. In Cochabamba the sale - to UK company International Waters Ltd - led to charges so crippling they sparked mass protest. Water suddenly cost more that food. Those on the minimum wage saw nearly half their budget devoured by the water bill. Even collecting rain water in rooftop tanks on a farm became illegal without a permit."

Fra Global Policy:

"Arguably, the best-known reaction to water privatization occurred in Cochabamba, Bolivia when the engineering giant Bechtel set up its subsidiary, Aguas del Tunari, in early 2000 and immediately raised the price of water beyond the reach of the vast majority of the population. Its contract even gave the company the right to charge people for the water they took from their own wells and to send collection agents to homes to charge for rainwater collected in cisterns on roofs."

Fra Peoples Democracy:

"In Bolivia, where the government was forced to sell the public water system to the multinational Bechtel due to World Bank pressure, the experience was even more disastrous. Not only were water prices doubled, local residents were even forced to buy permits to gather rain water on their own property. Water became more expensive than food. Public anger, culminating in the famous protests at Cochabamba, forced the government to backtrack and revoke the privatisation law."