The total cost of water as an economic and social good in a municipality of Praia (Cape Verd).

• Autor(a) principal: Miguel Ãngelo Barreto da Moura
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFC
• Texto Completo: http://www.teses.ufc.br/tde_busca/arquivo.php?codArquivo=8280
• topic: Escassez de Ãgua. Custo total da Ãgua. Cabo Verde.; Water Scarcity. Water Full Costs. Cape Verde; OUTROS

Most of the people around the globe believe that water is a free good. However, increasing difficulties of access, both in quantity and quality around the world, particularly in developing countries and for the lower income people is changing this view. The Agenda 21 and the Dublin Declaration (UN, 1992) had the merit of putting the water as an "economic good" in the center of the debate at the global level. In this context, the present study aims to evaluate the full costs of water in the Archipelago of Cape Verde, a country where the scarcity is growing, due to, among other factors, the population growth and increasing of economic activities. This research was conducted in the municipality of Praia, where the Capital of the country is located, which face also, higher levels of water scarcity. Such scarcity in this Municipality, therefore, is resulting in high economic and social costs for the population and the economy activities as well, mainly due to the discontinuity on supply. The Economic Regulation Agency (ARE) and the National Water Council (CNAG) in Cape Verde have addressed the cost of water, based on financial analysis, by raising the costs of maintenance and operation of systems of production and distribution of water and used data as a basis in setting water charges. In contrast however, this dissertation is based on the approach of Rogers et al. (1998) who call for the assessment of the full cost, which is the sum of the full cost of provision and economic costs, which include the externalities and opportunity costs. The study results revealed that in the municipality of Praia, the full costs of water are of ECV 2,743,057,388.00. This figure represents 4.24% of GDP in 2007. The cost per cubic meter of water is of CVE 1.245,74 (11.30 Euro). The total economic costs represent ninety-six percent (96%) of full cost of water in the municipality. Finally, the full cost of provision, in which the Economic Regulation Agency consider to design and to model the water prices in Cape Verde, was evaluated at around two hundred thirtyseven escudos (CVE 237.71) per cubic meter of water. This figure is far below the value which is paid by households not connected to the public (ECV 433.33 / m3).