Brazil: Sabesp, Caesb sign technical cooperation agreement

São Paulo state water utility Sabesp has signed a technical cooperation agreement with federal district water utility Caesb, according to a Sabesp release [03 Sep 2009, in Portuguese].

The five-year agreement allows the utilities to form partnerships for water, sewerage, solid waste and energy projects, both in Brazil and abroad.

Under the terms of the document, the utilities will exchange technologies to reduce and control water loss and develop joint software and automated systems. The firms will also share their experiences of fundraising in capital markets, among other actions.

This is Sabesp’s sixth interstate agreement. The utility has already signed agreements with Rio Grande do Sul utility Corsan, Alagoas’ Casal, Paraíba’s Cagepa, Santa Catarina’s Casan and Espírito Santo’s Cesan.

[In 2009] the company also signed international cooperation agreements with Costa Rican water utility AyA and Spanish sanitation company Aguas de Barcelona (Agbar).

Caesb provides 93% of the federal district’s urban population with potable water and sewerage services. All sewage is treated.

Source: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 08 Sep 2009

Brazil, São Paulo: Sabesp starts to implement US$1.4bn water loss control program with JICA support

São Paulo state water utility Sabesp has started to implement its 10-year program to monitor and control water losses, budgeted at over 3bn reais (US$1.37bn) [...] in partnership with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The technical cooperation agreement involves an exchange of experience and technology between Japanese specialists and Sabesp technicians.

[...] The program has four stages. National development bank BNDES will finance 700mn reais for the first stage which runs from 2009-11. [...] It will take at least 15 years to cut water loss volume in half, according to JICA engineer Masahiro Shimomura.

Japan’s 7% water loss rate is one of the lowest in the world, according to Shimomura, who said that it took 50 years to achieve this and an almost incalculable investment, “much more than billions of dollars.”

[...] In São Paulo state, the city of Jales is currently the best performer with an 8% water loss [while] Sabesp’s water losses are at 27.7% [and] the national average is 40%. [Sabesp] expects to reduce [losses] to 13% by the end of the program.

In 2007, Sabesp and JICA signed a US$2.4mn agreement to prepare for the implementation of the project. JICA donated US$1.5mn for equipment and materials, while Sabesp invested US$900,000 to train its technicians in Japanese technology and work practices.

Source: Daniel Bland, BNamericas [subscription site], 15 Apr 2009

Brazil, Sao Paulo: participatory sanitation project wins Mario Covas Award 2009

On April 8, 2009, the Project “Environmental Rehabilitation of Vila Machado: shared territorial management linked to Action Monitoring for Effectiveness” received the ‘Mario Covas Award 2009′ under the category Innovation on Public Management. The project, coordinated by the São Paulo State Basic Sanitation Company SABESP in a partnership with the Post-Graduate Programme on Environmental Science of the University of São Paulo PROCAM, uses an adaptation of Action Monitoring for Effectiveness (aMe) to involve city dwellers in the implementation of improvements on sanitation in a peri-urban community. An earlier development of IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre by Katheleen Shordt, aMe was considered an innovative element of public action. Maria Lucia G. Borba, a former IRC staff member and now with PROCAM, is collaborating with SABESP in this project.

The Mario Covas Award was created in 2004 as an effort by the São Paulo State Government to continuously search for the modernization of administrative action through its Secretariats and other governmental institutions. In 2009, of 184 public initiatives featuring projects being implemented in the state of São Paulo which were received by the organizers of this important event, 15 received the Award under two categories: Excellence on Public Management and Innovation on Public Management. For more information on the 2009 Award (only in Portuguese) see here and here.

For more information on the project contact Maria Lucia G. Borba, maluborba [at] yahoo.com 

Prize winners: from left Márcia Alice Alves – SABESP, Carlos Roberto Dardis – SABESP, Maria Lucia G. Borba – PROCAM/USP and Dilmara Veríssimo de Souza – SABESP.

Brazil: Union files lawsuit against Sabesp for alleged contract irregularities

São Paulo’s Baixada Santista, Litoral Sul and Vale do Ribeira urbanization union (Sintius) has filed a civil suit against state water utility Sabesp alleging more than 19 million reais (US$ 8 million) in contract irregularities [...] with engineering firm Saenge Engenharia de Saneamento e Edificações (Saenge).  The union claims service charges were overpriced by up to 500% [...]. “According to the Sabesp pricelist, the cost to repair a PVC sewerage unit is 313 reais. However, Saenge is charging 916 reais and Sabesp accepted,” Sintius president Marquito Duarte said, adding that the contract stipulates more than 2,400 of these services. Sabesp said the final cost was the same as on the pricelist that was made public when the tender was launched.

Source: BNamericas [subscription site], 06 Mar 2009

Brazil, Costa Rica: Sabesp to sign international cooperation agreement with AyA on 9 Jan 2009

São Paulo state water utility Sabesp [from Brazil] will sign its first international agreement on January 9 with Costa Rican state water utility AyA. [...] The five-year agreement contemplates commercial, legal and management cooperation between the two companies. The utilities will identify areas of common interest before signing specific contracts, through which Sabesp will transfer technology to implement programs, such as combating water losses. [Sabesp] will also provide advice in areas such as construction, operation, financing, production, distribution, collection, treatment and sewage disposal.

Source: BNAmericas [subscription site], 08 Jan 2008