What factors have led to poor people paying more for water in Dar es Salaam?
BEN TAYLOR: One obstacle is there are no pipe networks at all in large areas of the city…In Dar es Salaam, the development of water infrastructure has always been in the communities where wealthy people live. In poorer neighbourhoods there is very little by way of pipes. Even if there is a pipe network, (a) house might not have the money to connect – which the utility charges for. There is supposed to be a first-time connection fund; those paying water bills contribute a percentage from their bills to subsidise connection costs for poorer communities. In practice, there is very little evidence the fund is being used for that. There is an alternative to trying to establish a pipe network with a connection to every household, which is an expensive option. The cheaper way is to construct a small kiosk, which is essentially a small shop that sells water on to consumers. The utility provides the kiosk with a main pipe, they have a meter, and they can sell by the bucket to the surrounding
