Financializing water service provision with digital devices: pro-commercialization alliances and the securitization of revenue from the unbankable in Mathare, Nairobi

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyses the ‘inclusive and sustainable’ financialized commercialization of water service provision with digital devices in informal areas in the Global South. It ethnographically traces the implementation of PAYGo (pay-as-you-go) water dispensers by the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) in Mathare/Nairobi, Kenya, to reach customers in areas previously considered unbankable; expel illegal water vendors; and demonstrate revenue streams to attract global financial capital. As a result of the depoliticization of local and global inequalities through PAYGo dispensers and the following redistributive battles, the NCWSC was forced to reintegrate the former vendors and their high price setting, and ultimately ‘blended’ financial capital with the informal economies of the poor to ‘securitize’ revenue. In contrast to the 1990s privatization initiatives, the current commercialization of water is more encompassing: Public-private alliances profit from attracting informal residents as customers, while residents remain largely excluded from the benefits of formal service delivery.