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| Metito says that 'Water Must Be Managed by the private sector' at the Public Private Partnership conference |
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Metito, the international desalination, water, and wastewater treatment specialist, made a strong case for greater private sector involvement in the water sector, at Public Private Partnership conference in Dubai, today.
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Rami Ghandour Executive Director of Metito Group said: 'The demands for water and wastewater treatment are growing tremendously with the growth of the economies of the Gulf and Middle East, with $120B to be invested over the next decade.
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Rami Ghandour Executive Director of Metito Group. |
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Historically, the governments have held monopolies on supplying water and treating wastewater. Many of the government utilities across the region are not able to install capacity fast enough to cope with the growth.'
'The government monopolies are often overstaffed, have high water losses in their networks, and have not always completed full environmental impact assessments. By privatizing the utilities, the government can better ensure capacity is installed in time, operated at a lower cost and in an environmentally friendly manner.'
The World Bank has strongly suggested that governments should give more space for private companies to manage public utilities. We encourage the governments of the Middle East to spend the time now to forward plan such socially responsible actions.
Rami presented the three largest privatized water utilities in the world, Jakarta, Manila and Buenos Aires, and extrapolated the lessons learnt as applicable to the Gulf and Middle East.
"As a result of World Bank and World Trade Organization pressure, the economies of the region are opening up to private sector participation. We are on the verge of a great wave of privatization across the Gulf and Middle East. Metito has played a key role in developing public private partnerships in areas as diverse as Abu Dhabi and Sharm el Sheikh, and is looking forward to this exciting concept spreading across the region' Added Rami.
Public-Private Partnership has been successfully implemented to initiate and finance project development in many parts of the world. In the Middle East the potential for PPP development is unlimited. Public-private partnerships create jobs in the private sector; provide quality services and facilities for citizens and stakeholders, and lift much of the burden of development from the already overloaded shoulders of the public sector.
The congress objective can be summarised in three main points: understand the full potential of public-private partnership for developing infrastructure; upgrading services and expertise, creating jobs and promoting inward investment interact with leading PPP experts from around the world; and discuss partnership options available for the Middle East and learn the history of PPP, its international track record, as well as its penetration in the MENA region and successful ventures to-date.
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