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170 Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia
each compromised borehole is drilled to 50 m instead of 60 m, corruption
costs attributable to short-drilling of could total between US$1 million
and US$3 million. There may be other costs, too: survey results
suggest that corrupt practices in construction affect borehole performance
and hence people’s access to improved water supplies. Projections
should be treated with caution, however, because the sample size was
small and the identity of some village boreholes (and hence links to contracts,
borehole logs, and invoices) could not be confirmed with complete
confidence in the absence of GPS coordinates.
Beneath the headline numbers, what key conclusions and recommendations
emerge from the borehole story? To begin with, the study highlights
the importance of understanding borehole construction costs as a
means of identifying likely corrupt practice. Our analysis of borehole
costs indicates that the most likely corrupt practice during the construction
of shallow boreholes is to drill short, generating significant savings in
both drilling and materials. Depth can be measured with the CCTV
equipment used for the current study, but it could also be measured using
a simple measuring line by government staff or by communities themselves.
For deeper boreholes (those > 60 m) the cost of materials is more
significant, and use of CCTV would be the only way of assessing both
depth and the correct use of casing and screen.
Recommendation 8: Adopt the survey approach piloted in this study to
monitor, and improve, construction standards in borehole drilling and to
deter future corruption.
For shallow boreholes, the critical indicator of corrupt practice is drilled
depth; this can be measured in a number of ways. For deeper boreholes,
it is more important to use CCTV equipment to assess both depth and
the use and quality of materials. In both cases, spot checks on construction,
as well as the announcement that checks might be made, could
provide a powerful means of reducing corruption risk.
Recommendation 9: Strengthen on-site supervision of drilling contractors by
government personnel.
We note that procedures are already in place for monitoring construction
standards through on-site supervision of contractors by regional or zonal
hydrogeologists. However, staff members are few in number and often
hard pressed to monitor the numbers of boreholes being constructed in
rural areas.