Investors turn off water
1 Oct 2007
Private investors are showing little interest in funding projects in the water sector, a senior industry executive has warned global governments and non-governmental organisations.
State-of-the-art water and wastewater treatment and the reuse of water are increasingly becoming a pre-condition for, and the only way of, securing future supplies, according to Roger Radke, CEO of Siemens Water Technologies.
"We must increasingly unite our technology and knowhow with potential investors and partners in the area of water supply and distribution in order to guarantee future supplies," Radke said at World Water Week in Stockholm earlier this month.
Unlike other infrastructure areas, private investors have shown little interest in putting their funds into the water business, even though successful projects in other industrial areas have shown that equity of Euro20-100 million is sufficient to carry out projects valued at Euro100 million to Euro1 billion.
Four reasons cited for the lack of water investment are: insufficient long range planning; unfavourable risk-return profile compared with other infrastructure projects; unpredictability of political and social conditions; and legal uncertainty.
State-of-the-art water and wastewater treatment and the reuse of water are increasingly becoming a pre-condition for, and the only way of, securing future supplies, according to Roger Radke, CEO of Siemens Water Technologies.
"We must increasingly unite our technology and knowhow with potential investors and partners in the area of water supply and distribution in order to guarantee future supplies," Radke said at World Water Week in Stockholm earlier this month.
Unlike other infrastructure areas, private investors have shown little interest in putting their funds into the water business, even though successful projects in other industrial areas have shown that equity of Euro20-100 million is sufficient to carry out projects valued at Euro100 million to Euro1 billion.
Four reasons cited for the lack of water investment are: insufficient long range planning; unfavourable risk-return profile compared with other infrastructure projects; unpredictability of political and social conditions; and legal uncertainty.
