GUEST EDITORIAL

The situation with the Water and Sewerage Company (WASCO) Inc. is still very much on the table of discussion as St. Lucians express their concerns about plans by Government to privatize the company that sells water, this life saving commodity, to the citizens of this country.
And despite efforts by civil groups to get Government to delay its privatization plans by at least two years or until every community on the island has had an opportunity to hear Government plans for the company and the water sector in St. Lucia, and give feedback to these plans – it seems that Government is nevertheless determined to go ahead.
Last Tuesday a Water and Sewerage (Amendment) Bill was brought up to the House of Assembly for its first reading, perhaps an indication that while Government is listening to all and sundry who have ideas on the best way possible for WASCO and the water sector in general, it is still going ahead with meeting its September 2008 deadline for privatization of this sector.
Prime Minister Stephenson King, earlier this week, attempted to justify his Government’s intentions to privatize WASCO by explaining that WASCO was not a viable entity.
One option, according to the Prime Minister was for the Government to continue managing WASCO as a social entity and continue to pour money into it, a black hole; or meet the standards of the World Bank and make it a viable corporation.

The Prime Minister noted that the best way to making WASCO viable was to invite private sector participation. He added that what changed between the last administration’s proposal and his Government’s was that his Government thought WASCO should remain in the hands of the Government and people of St. Lucia therefore instead of a 40%/60% arrangement (40% for Government and 60% for a private investor) it was changed to 20 percent Government, 20 percent National Insurance Corporation (NIC), 20 percent St. Lucian people (including those in the diaspora) and 40 percent private investor.
This means that collectively St. Lucia would own the majority of shares in the new WASCO entity.
Prime Minister King added that he believes that this was the only way St. Lucia could hold on to ownership of WASCO.
That being the case the issue of WASCO’s assets comes into question.
Who will own the assets of the old WASCO when it becomes the new WASCO, such as the John Compton Dam, the water treatment facility at Ciceron and other assets?
While that question still hangs in the air awaiting a decisive answer from Government it has been suggested that the 40 percent given to private ownership in the new WASCO has to do with the management of the entity and not in its assets which would still stay in the hands of the Government and people of St. Lucia.
It would augur well for the Government to hold island wide consultations on the subject since St. Lucians are not all against paying a slightly higher rate for water that is clean and a service that is trustworthy. (M.G)