2005 - 2006 - Pinsent Masons Water Yearbook 2012

GUINEA PART 2: COUNTRY ANALYSIS
Freshwater
Annual availability (1998) 226.0km 3
Per capita 29,454m 3
Annual withdrawal (1987) 0.74km 3
Domestic 10%
Industrial 3%
Agriculture 87%
Operations and actualities
Fees collected by SEEG go towards paying service providers, covering distribution costs and for
operations and investments carried out on behalf of the facilities owner (SONEG). SEEG began
operations against a backdrop of severe water shortage and a network in a poor state of repair, along
with some cultural difficulties. For example, a profit-oriented company needed to be developed, and
customers had to be educated about the qualities of drinking water, how to avoid wasting water and
why water had to be paid for.
The performance of the contract to date has been mixed. Between 1989 and 1995, the cost of water
rose first from US$0.12/m 3 to US$0.25/m 3 at the start of the contract and progressively to US$0.90/m 3
then falling back to US$0.66 per m 3 by 2000. In 1989, 15% of urban dwellers had access to piped
water. This had increased to 52% by 1996. Meanwhile, water connections increased from 8,500 in
1975 to 12,000 in 1989 and to 30,500 by 1995. Metering also increased from about 5% to 98% of all
connections by 2000. The bill collection ratio improved from below 50% in the years 1986-88 to 75%
in 1995, before falling back to 60%.
Groundwater
Annual availability (1998) 38.0km 3
Per capita 4,952m 3
The scope for conflict
The Guinean Government’s 49% per cent share gives it some control over management decisions
and it has the right to approve all changes of a legal nature. There is one potential problem with this
relationship, which is that there is no independent regulator. The balance of stakeholder concerns
may be affected in the future by the government seeking (or seen as seeking) to optimise the return
on its shareholding at the expense of customer concerns. The current challenge for the contract is to
see how the customers’ willingness and their capacity to pay in a period of economic difficulties will be
affected by the ending of all subsidies. It is understood that some tensions exist between SONEG
and SEEG with regard to the operational interpretation of the contract. SONEG sticks to the contract
rigidly, while SEEG is seeking to have a greater degree of operational freedom. This perceived need
for further operational flexibility is to be one of the main elements of the current contract renewal
negotiations. The term of the lease contract is currently expiring and the system is now capable of
attracting a concession contract. For the latter to succeed, affordability needs to be addressed, along
with the relationship between SONEG and SEEG.
In 2001, the lease contract between SEEG and SAUR and Veolia ended, having formally expired in
1999 and no replacement contract being implemented. It is understood that a replacement contract is
still being sought.
MAJOR CITIES
City 2000 2015 Status
Conakry 1,232,000 2,073,000 Formerly privatised (SEEG)
106 Pinsent Masons Water Yearbook 2005 – 2006