The National Government prepares a project to transform to the National Institute of Aqueducts and Sewerage (Idaan) into companies of service, before the serious problem that it faces in matter of collection and maintenance of the systems of supply of drinking water.
The information that Panama America handles is that the plan consists in creating a company at national level or several companies that would run in different municipalities to optimize the service of measurement of the water that is consumed, besides the cutting off of the service when this is required, product of the arrearage.
However there is a factor related directly with the political cost that could face the political party that rules, which is what is delaying the presentation of such proposal.
Juan Antonio Ducreux, former director of the Idaan, believes that the measure of transforming the institution is not bad, on the contrary, it represents a solution to face the many problems that the entity currently has and prepare what comes in the future.
Currently, the Government has made an investment that exceeds one thousand million dollars to improve the supply of drinking water so that it can get to more homes in the country.
This investment could, by the end of this Administration, exceed 4,000 million dollars, however, for Ducreux it is all about a good intention, but that should come matched with a model of management to face its sustainability in the long term.
During the Government of Ernesto Perez Balladares there was an intention of privatize the Idaan, proposal that was harshly rejected by the population that came out to the streets during a week to protest against the measure.
In the end, Perez Balladares had to take back his proposal, presented in the final stage of his administration.
Consumption
Currently in Panama, 80% of the population has drinking water, an encouraging figure, according to the specialist Juan Antonio Ducreux.
In his view, there is still an uncontrolled consumption, causing for the Idaan to progressively increase the charge to its customers.
Explained the former director that Panama is one of the countries of the region with greater number of consumption of water per capita and that without count that the cost by consumption is by the order of them 14 dollars monthly by customer.
Level of satisfaction
The low level of satisfaction of the customers that receive drinking water is added to the current crisis, due to the constant interruptions, product of the constant damage occurring on the water pipelines of the service.
Plan 100 / 0
In Juan Antonio Ducreux´s opinion, with the program designed by the Government and that is called plan 100 / 0, the intention is good, but in the practice some questions arise that generate doubts.
He indicates that with this program it was possible to perform some social that will allow, in addition to improving the housing of the people, gaining more customers in a governmental entity unable to cope with the demand form the 2.5 million of people to whom they supply drinking water.
The question that Ducreux asks himself is how sustainable this plan is and how it is going to charge for this water that will be supplied by means of plan 100 / 0.
Moreover, one of the major difficulties to get rid of pit latrines facing the Government is impacting the indigenous regions with this program.
The reason is the distance that the communities have, what hinders the construction of systems of aqueducts and of treatment of waste waters.
What 100 / 0 seeks is to get to more informal communities, however, it is precisely in these areas where the higher number of arrearage is reported according to reports by the Idaan.
Arrearage
To 104 million dollars amounts the debt that those clients keep to the Idaan, of which 79 million dollars correspond to the residential sector.
Of the rest, 16 million dollars correspond to the institutions of the State, and 10 million dollars to private businesses.
The reports indicate that there are commercial centers that owe to the institution up to 48 thousand dollars.
The cutting off procedures against those nonpayers have reached a national scope.
