ABSTRACT
Water and sewerage services to the twin cities of La Paz and El Alto were privatized in 1997 with a 30-year concession awarded to the Lyonnaise des Eaux consortium, Aguas del Illimani (AISA). At this time around 93 per cent and 83 per cent of their respective populations had access to some form of piped water. Over the first five years, AISA committed to install 71,752 new household connections, ‘equivalent to 100 per cent coverage’ in El Alto, the poorer of the cities. At the time of this case study, figures indicated that coverage had reached close to 99 per cent in La Paz and El Alto. However, the dispute as to the accuracy of this figure based upon differing interpretations of concession and municipal boundaries, contributed to the subsequent cancellation of the concession by the government in 2006.
