WASHINGTON, March 8: The World Bank said on Friday that if the challenge of halving the number of people without access to water for everything from drinking to irrigation is to be met, water aid to poor nations should be doubled and private investment increased.

Increased water aid, however, should be coupled with sound policies on the part of developing countries to attract companies such as France’s Vivendi to invest in water supply and sanitation programmes.

We are now spending $80 billion a year (on water programs) and over time we should go to $180 billion per year, Ian Johnson, the bank’s vice president for sustainable development, told a World Bank round-table discussion.

Two billion people around the world have no or little access to potable water, a number that could rise to 5 billion by 2025, Johnson said. The bank’s Millennium Goals include cutting in half by 2015 the number of people with no access to water.

Without proper regulations and policies, no amount of money will work, he added. If (countries) want more money we want to make sure it’ll go to places where it will be spent sensibly and appropriately.

Mike Curtin, who represented the private sector at the bank’s round-table discussion, said that many programmes failed because of a lack of symmetry, of balance between actors caused by endemic corruption.

You won’t find in the near-term that the private sector will put forward their own capital unless legal structures are reformed, he added.

It’s the political risk that kills you, World Bank’s Johnson noted.

But this is somewhat of a Catch-22, as reform can be hard to achieve without some financial or technical assistance.

It’s a chicken and egg situation: is the money going to come first or are performances going to come first? said Radha Singh of India’s ministry of water resources.

There isn’t enough available infrastructure for reform to take place, she said, adding that too many conditions on financial aid remains an issue.

But in today’s limping global economy an increasingly cautious private sector could shy away from investments in developing countries.

In the current environment we will have to play a greater role to attract the private sector, said Nemat Shafik, vice president for private sector development and infrastructure at the bank.

We are willing to look at projects of all kinds but we need assurance of due diligence, Johnson said.

Developing countries need infrastructures, and we stand ready, but we want to do it in the appropriate and right way.—Reuters