Growing dangers of service apartheid: how the World Bank Group’s Private Sector Development (PSD) Strategy threatens infrastructure and basic service provision

The article finds that:

• the main thrust of the PSD Strategy is not new. It would continue to shape and diminish the role of the state, primarily through structural adjustment programs (SAPs) and the four categories of PSD operations (i.e., privatization of state-owned enterprises and services; direct assistance to enterprises; social funds; and changes in the business environment)
• the PSD Strategy poses risks to basic service provision; labor rights; environmental protection; and democratic process
• the PSD Strategy has the potential to foster gross inequality in the market for services due to the manner in which the Bank intends to fence off (“unbundle”) profit-making markets and impose widespread user fees (assuming that subsidy systems will ensure access by the poor to basic services). Policies which foster “apartheid” in services must be rejected
• there needs to be much greater consultation with stakeholders
• the World Bank did not provide adequate notification to affected parties
• the PSD Strategy should be subject to broad peer review and independent assessment