Investments

Dear Ms Benjamin:

The list you published on the 12th December 2005 has come to our attention. In this list you rank us among the Most Wanted Corporate Human Rights Violators of 2005 and call upon your supporters to Take Action for International Human Rights Day ! . This is a very grave charge which we take very seriously. It has deeply upset both the thousands of persons at Suez who work 24 hours per day/7 days per week to provide safe drinking water and sanitation to millions of people throughout the world and the public bodies we serve. For this reason we would like to respond to your characterizations.

Like you, we share the conviction that water resources are a universal good and that access to drinking water is a fundamental human right. Transforming this right into reality is one of the major challenges of our century. Collecting, pumping, treating and distributing drinking water to all is complex and costly requires the commitment of both the public and private sector.

Since water is not a commodity, responsibility and decision-making always must rest with the public authorities as part of a public water service.

Certain governments and local authorities have entrusted part or all of the operational responsibility to private companies so that their population can benefit from the know-how and ability of these companies to do this efficiently and at less cost. After a careful selection process, local governments choose companies like Suez to operate within the framework of contracts whose terms are fixed. These governments then actively manage the contracts which set out the prices, define the priorities, the zones of operation and the measures for controlling results. The water resource is never privatized. Only the service involving its collection, treatment, distribution, purification and customer service may be, wholly or in part, entrusted to a private company.

The examples you cite are consistent with the global reality. In Bolivia, Argentina and Manila, Suez Environnement has always exercised its activities under the aegis of the public authorities. We are proud of our achievements and would like to draw your attention to the following facts and figures:

In Bolivia, the comparative study conducted in 2004 by the public water service regulation body, the Superintendencia de Saneamiento Basico, states that Aguas del Illimani, the company Suez manages in La Paz/El Alto, charges domestic customers the lowest price per cubic metre of drinking water in the country, and this despite the fact that, as with all public service contracts, the contract is indexed on the dollar. For an average residential consumption of 15 cubic metres, the water bill would come to $3.32 in La Paz/El Alto compared to $8.70 in Santa Cruz and $3.83 in Cochabamba, both publicly managed water systems. Since the inception of Aguas del Illimani in 1997 we have increased the number of persons who receive water services by 60 % and sanitation services by 75%. This far exceeds the results of any of the other publicly managed water systems in Bolivia.

In Argentina, Suez Environnement has invested over $2 billion on its Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Cordoba contracts. These investments have resulted everywhere in an increase in the production of drinking water, the extension of the system and a marked improvement in health safety. In Buenos Aires for example Suez Environnement has connected 2 millions people to water services and 1 million to sanitation services, most of these people benefit from low income subsidies agreed to by the government to help pay for their water. A study carried out by the University of California at Berkeley, shows that this progress has helped to cut infant mortality by 24%.

In Manila, Suez Environment only held 20% of Maynilad Waters capital and, along with its local partner, only had an operational role. Following the devaluation of the peso and the Asian economic crisis of 1997, prices have been raised according to the decision of the Filipino government. Within 5 years of presence of Suez Environment, the rate of water supply has increased from 62 to 84% and 560 000 poor neighbourhoods inhabitants have been connected to water. In October 2003, several Tondo district inhabitants suffered from gastroenteritis and cholera. Victims had drunk contaminated water that had been illegally pumped in the Tondo subsoil, located on a former landfill closed thirty years earlier. In agreement with public authorities, Maynilad Water immediately mobilised itself in order to supply inhabitants with drinking water through the use of tankers and to neutralise the pollutions.

 Suez Environnement is deeply conscious of the special social responsibility that rests with our company considering its chosen businesses, particularly its water management activity. We pay particular attention to any comment addressed to us by society and therefore feel it imperative that we answer the charges levelled against us.

We are well aware of the global campaign against private water companies specifically targeting Suez which has been undertaken by such groups as Public Citizen and Corporate Accountably International. We made the effort last May and June to respond to their specific accusations. We explained how we serve 8 million people who live in poverty in various parts of the world and we have installed new connections to more than 4 million poor people during the last ten years. We are proud of the contribution we have made and will continue to make towards achieving the challenging goal of water for all people. We offer to provide you with this same information and would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to share ideas on how we can all work more effectively to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Respectfully yours,

Dominique Pin
Senior Executive Vice President
Institutional Relations and Public Affairs
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT

[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]