Peru wants to partner with companies on water management.
By Marco Aquino LIMA, July 25 (Reuters) – Peru wants the private sector to play a bigger role in managing its water supplies as the government rolls out reforms aimed at ensuring that people in towns across Peru have access to running water by 2021, the housing minister said on Tuesday.
Kuczynski’s government has passed a law to allow some of the utilities to merge or be managed privately.
It also bars local mayors from owning shares in the utilities, part of a bid to "depoliticize" their services, Trujillo said.
"We want them to operate like any other company," Trujillo said in an interview.
"In coming weeks we’ll start the process of looking at initiatives from the private sector."
Trujillo said the government will invest $1.3 billion in water infrastructure this year, up 70 percent from 2016, giving 1 million more Peruvians access to running water.
"This is a priority that’s becoming reality," Trujillo said.
Some 11 million Peruvians live without sewage systems and 5.5 million lack access to potable water, including 1 million in Lima, the capital, according to official data from last year.
Peru has a population of about 30 million.