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Water should not be a prisoner of profit

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-21 15:17

The chief of Veolia Water, which has made big-time investment in Lanzhou Water Supply Group, recently announced "durative deficits" in the group's operation cost. But the price of water in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province, at 1.95 yuan per ton is exorbitant. Hence, the government should ensure people get water at a reasonable rate, says an article in Qilu Evening News.

Excerpt:

Veolia Water, a major shareholder in Lanzhou Water Supply Group, has raised the price of water it supplies five times in nine years.

Multinational water treatment and supply companies enter Chinese market by spending relatively small amounts and with the aim to make big profits.

It's time local authorities readjusted their role in supplying public goods because none of the overseas companies will ever sympathize with the suffering people.

Related readings:  Hike in water charges increase protests  Water cost matters  Water supply should be public service  Rise in water price should be justified

Water is the most basic of human necessities and its supply is a public utility service. But when a profit-making company treats and/or supplies it, it does so with the sole motive of making money.

For the problem in Lanzhou, the local government should be blamed for neglecting its duty of providing necessities at reasonable costs. The government should have intervened when Veolia Water chief announced "deficits" and raised the price of water, without making any company figures public. Our governments should learn a lesson from a similar case that happened in the Philippines 11 years ago when a foreign company raised the price of water by 76 percent that caused a major turbulence.

Since the Lanzhou incident could be the beginning of more such cases, and the government needs to be well prepared for protecting citizens' rights as more and more overseas enterprises flock to China.