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Water governance crucial in corruption fight, say experts
Corruption in the water sector hurts the poor most, while discouraging investment and undermining efficient water resource management, experts say
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orruption in the water sector hurts the poor most, while discouraging investment and undermining efficient water resource management, experts say.
Michael Hantke-Domas, the honorary associate at UNESCO’s Center for Water Law, Policy and Science at the University of Dundee in Scotland, said Monday that corruption ranges in scale — from petty to grand corruption.
Petty corruption, he said, involves small payments such as those made to help adjust water meters, while grand corruption involves big money, for example in infrastructure projects.
Corruption, he said, could be found on both the supply and demand sides — in the form of preferential treatment, driven by private sector, bribery and fraud in licensing, procurement and construction; and demand for bribes in exchange for services.
“It occurs in resource allocation, procurement and construction, such as diverting funds for a water supply network,” said Hantke-Doma, who is also a senior adviser at Governance, Law & Regulation.
According to a recent study, an estimated 30 percent of international aid agencies’ money spent in different countries was lost to corruption, while another study estimated that in the water sector 30 to 70 percent of funds for water-related projects was lost to corruption.
Hante-Doma was one of the speakers at a five-day international workshop on water governance, held in Bandung, West Java, which was attended by participants from five countries.
The workshop was a jointly funded initiative between UNDP Cap-Net, AguaJaring, IHE Indonesia and CKNet INA. Another expert on water projects, Mohd. Adnan, said when corrupt systems failed to deliver, poor people had few means to enter alternative markets.
“Acting within such a system, poor people, who typically cannot afford to pay bribes, lose out to the ones offering the highest bribes,” said Adnan, a consulting engineer and project manager from Malaysia’s RPM Engineers.
“But corruption is not a natural disaster. It is created, crafted and perfected by those who seek private gain at public expense.” Adnan pointed out that water sector is characterized by a number of factors that increase the likelihood of corruption.
The factors, he said, included the involvement of large-scale construction and monopolies, high demand for water services and technical complexity, which decreases public transparency and leads to an asymmetry of information.
“Corruption causes decisions to be weighed in terms of money, not people’s needs,” he said.
For example, he added, slum water provision, designed for the poorest families, may not be taken into account, while the needs of those who can pay the most are met immediately.
“Because of corruption we lose perspective of what is important for the people,” Adnan said.
Improved integrity, transparency, accountability and anticorruption measures in water lead to better decision making and more effective management, allocation and distribution of water resources and services, said Jap T. L. Yap of the World Bank and IHE Indonesia.
“There is a need to change from a sector-based approach to integrated water resources management to help prevent corrupt practices.”
