Contribution for an Effective Water Privatization for Service Delivery in a Developing Country: The Case of Gabon

Abstract

The past decades could be described as one of structural adjustment. There are many definitions and interpretations of this term. Generally, one of the main objectives of restructuring is to adjust institutions and organizations to the rapidly changing global economic political and social environment. One of the most important features of structural adjustment is the movement from state-controlled to market economies; the transition is being made through deregulation and privatization. Privatization emerged in the 1980s as a major public policy issue in many parts of the world. The privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOE) has become an important instrument for improving economic performance in industrialized countries as well as implementing transition policies in both developing countries and former socialist nations.The worldwide recession of the late 1970s, the debt arises faced by many African countries during the early 1980s, and the shift to market economies by some African countries during the years 1990s all exacerbated the problems of inefficient state enterprises and refocused attention on the crucial role of the private sector in economic growth and development. The present paper is an attempt to explain why it is important for many developing countries to embark in privatization of previously state owned companies.