PSIREN

http://kluwerarbitrationblog.com/blog/2009/03/02/scorecard-of-investment...

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/colombia-archives-61/1786-colombia-fighting-development-banks-for-the-human-right-to-water
Colombia: Fighting Development Banks for the Human Right to Water

The 42nd ADB Board of Governors Annual Meeting (AGM) was held in Bali from 2-5 May 2009.

Contents: Background;  PSI/GUFs agenda in Tashkent;  PSI/GUFs activities in Tashkent;  May 1  Meeting with ADB President Kuroda;  PSI speaks at May 2 Forum on Women Empowerment;  May 3 PSI/GUFs Forum on “Workers and Unions in ADB Operations”;  PSI gives ADB ‘Very Poor’ score in Madya Pradesh power project;   May 1-4  Meetings with country delegations; Recommended next steps from PSI/GUFs wrap-up session.

Contains: PSI’s position on public sector reforms (New Public Management; Privatisation, PPP, PFIs; Outsourcing or contracting out; Cost-cutting budget constraints; Performance pay and performance management); Other modes of PSR (Decentralization; Separation of Policymaking and Service Delivery; Emergence of e-government; Job losses, austerity measures due to global economic crisis); World Bank review of PSR; Reasserting the public in public services;  ADB-supported PSR in power, water, health, education sectors; Union actions in PSR

ADB report shows the impacts of ADB's assistance to the state of Madhya Pradesh since 1999 in fiscal consolidation and sectoral reform programs and investments in energy, urban infrastructure (e.g., Madhya Pradesh Urban Water Supply and Environmental Improvement Project, Indore Water Supply Project), and transportation.
Impacts of MP power sector reforms include reported achievements in:
 -       restructuring of the vertically integrated MPSEB into six successor companies

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is a part of the World Bank Group which invests money in projects involving private companies. It openly promotes privatisation in many sectors. Recent activity invcludes:

Water and energy multinationals have been fined and/or investigated by the European Commission for a number of competition offences. These include possible attempts to cover up evidence of wrong-doing.

The Italian campaign against water privatisation -  Forum Italiano dei Movimenti per l’Acqua - collected over a million signatures in 2 months in support of a demand for a referendum to prevent the privatisation of water services.The campaign is organised and supported by hundreds of organisations and bodies, including water operators, community and releigious organisations, and the Italian trade unions.
 
 

A Hungarian arbitration court has ruled that the city council of Pecs was legally entitled to terminate its water service contract with the multinational Suez Environnement, and take over the running of the service itself. In March 2010:
 

 
 
As the UK government proposes heavy spending cuts,unions and others are responding with critiques on the impact of these policies and advancing alternatives.   The largest public sector union, Unison, and the TUC have published an analysis of the government's budget proposals. This goes beyond the impact of tax and benefit changes, and shows how the cuts in services affect the poorest households most.  

A group of economists and others in Latvia have formed a 'Reform Task Force Latvia' to promote  alternative economic policies to the Latvian government's cuts public spending, including the pay of public employees. The task force has a website at www.rtfl.lv . It has held two conferences, and in May 2010 published a comprehensive report 'Latvia Renewed', at http://www.rtfl.lv/documents/Latvia_Renewed_2010.pdf

Oct 09 Final report of Castalia consultants which will be basis of privitization of MIWD thru PPP. Board of Directors now in the process of signing a MOA with IFC for the conduct of the feasibility study.
Executive Summary:

April 2010 -- A brief analysis produced by the World Bank's private sector development unit shows that the value of privatization transactions in developing countries fell by 70 per cent between 2007 and 2008. However the pro-privatization unit of the Bank notes with evident relief: "Concerns that the crisis would produce a wave of nationalizations appear to have been unfounded." It states that most government takeovers of collapsing banks and other firms were in industrialized countries and of a temporary nature.

June 2010 – The Karnataka government is in the process of seeking additional funds from the World Bank for development works like creation of sewage and drinking water system in the new areas of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) or the Greater Bangalore City Corporation. The BBMP was created in 2007 by merging eight urban local bodies with the then Bangalore City Corporation. At present, there are 198 wards in BBMP and most of them lack basic civic amenities.