The Private Sector and Local Elites: The Experience of Public–Private Partnership in the Water Sector in Tripoli, Lebanon

Abstract

As part of a reform of the water sector, the first attempt at public–private partnership (PPP) in Lebanon took place from 2003 to 2007 in the city of Tripoli. A subsidiary of the multinational company Suez-environnement was contracted to manage the drinking water service in the Tripoli Water Authority area. The objective of the contract was to improve domestic water supply services in Tripoli while modernizing the public administration, which, until then, was unable to ensure proper service. This contribution seeks to understand the interactions between the private firm and local elites during this time, in a context deeply marked by clientelism and cronyism. While the literature on delegated water management in developing countries often focuses on institutional aspects, this case study brings politics back into the analysis to understand how the introduction of a private actor affects clientelist networks.

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to IFPO for allowing me to do extensive fieldwork in Lebanon, and to Karim Eid-Sabbagh and Sylvia Bergh for helping me write this article in English.

Notes

¹ The four Regional Water Authorities (RWAs) are the Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Authority (BMLWA), the Bekaa Water Authority (BWA), the South Lebanon Water Authority (SLWA) and the North Lebanon Water Authority (NLWA). They were officially created and the new director generals were appointed in 2002 but the merger came into effect only in 2005 when the by-laws for each RWA were passed. Concerning the management contract, it was designed only for the area of the Tripoli water authority that became a part of the NLWA during the experiment. Nevertheless, the new director general, as well as the new board of directors, was appointed at the beginning of the contract. For the sake of simplicity, I use the term ‘water authority’ regardless of it being the Tripoli water authority or the NLWA (before and after 2005), except when the distinction is relevant for the argument.

² Interview with AFD staff.

³ Awaited by the AFD and Ondeo all through the contract, this law has still not been passed. It shows once again the resistance of the Lebanese political class to the participation of the private sector in water management.

⁴ Assassination of the former prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, war of July 2006, events at the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian camp in 2007.

⁵ wo additional phases, planned in the contract, were not implemented: the integration of wastewater/sanitation management in the contract and its enlargement to the entire area of North Lebanon.

⁶ Abd el-Hamid Karamé, followed by his sons Rachid and Omar, dominated the Tripolitan political scene from the 1920s to the 1990s.

⁷ The population of the union of municipality of Al-Fayhâ'a (Tripoli, el-Mina and Beddawi) – approximately the territory of the Tripoli water authority – is estimated at 329,164 inhabitants (Le Thomas, 2009).

⁸ See Dewailly (2010) on Najib Mikati's association Azm & Saade.

⁹ From the name of the spring which provides the new network with water. It also supplies water to the city of Zgharta, upstream from Tripoli.

¹⁰ Tripoli was founded on the coastal plain and then developed on the surrounding hills, on both sides of the Abou Ali river. The districts of Abou Samra and Qobbe are situated on those hills.

¹¹ Interview with the mokhtar of Abou Samra, 25 January 2011. Mokhtar since 1981, he participated in the protests for the improvement of the water supply in Abou Samra in 1977–78. It should be noted that the ministry often chooses to drill wells when there is a conflict around the repartition of surface waters.

¹² He was prime minister nine times between 1955 and 1975.

¹³ During an interview, the former director general of the Tripoli water authority stated: ‘Tripoli has always been well represented within the central state’ (interview with the author, January 2011).

¹⁴ René Moawad was a political leader of Zgharta. He was assassinated in 1989, 17 days after his election as president of the Lebanese republic. His widow, Nayla Moawad, was MP from 1991 to 2009. She is part of the 14 March coalition, led by Rafik Hariri's son, Saad Hariri. She created the René Moawad foundation in 1990.

¹⁵ Qalamoun is a city near Tripoli.

¹⁶ The Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) was created in 1977 in order to support the reconstruction of the civil war damages. It is in charge of planning, programming and supervision of the implementation of foreign-funded reconstruction and the development projects in the country (mainly infrastructure).

¹⁷ Interview with the mokhtar of Tebbané, 29 January 2011. Tebbané is one of the poorest areas of Tripoli.

¹⁸ Interviews with customers and makhatir.

¹⁹ The works only ended at the beginning of 2011.

²⁰ Interview with the CEO of Ondeo , 20 December 2010. Pressures can vary from repeated phone calls to intimidation attempts.

²¹ Interview with the CEO of Ondeo , 20 December 2010. Pressures can vary from repeated phone calls to intimidation attempts

²² Interview with the CEO of Ondeo , 20 December 2010. Pressures can vary from repeated phone calls to intimidation attempts

²³ Qabaday are street leaders recruited by the zu'ama to organize their clientele and mobilize them at times of political confrontation, in exchange for protection against the police (Johnson, 1986: 3–4).

²⁴ Qabaday are street leaders recruited by the zu'ama to organize their clientele and mobilize them at times of political confrontation, in exchange for protection against the police (Johnson, 1986: 3–4)

²⁵ A member of Ondeo's staff, quoted by Hela Yousfi (2006: 205).

²⁶ Interview Ondeo Executive staff, 6 December 2010.

²⁷ Interview AFD staff, 18 January 2011.

²⁸ The director general of the water authority, quoted by Hela Yousfi (2006: 156).

²⁹ Interview with the CEO of Ondeo, 20 December 2010.

³⁰ ibid.