It makes you wonder sometimes. Germany is ready to donate around $18 million. The national government and the city government would kick in a few million more. The contract was signed in October 2006. The plan is to fix up the drinking water and sanitary drainage system in the City of Granada.

But a year has passed and work on the ground has yet to begin. At issue is how the renovated system will be run. The State agency ENACAL wants to assume full control of its management. Privatization of water is something that is anathema to many here, and the director of ENACAL appears to feel that that is what is at stake.

The German donors are not proposing privatization: they recommend that the project be managed by a separate agency that is part of ENACAL, a kind of local water authority. Rates for service would be established by INAA, the government’s regulatory authority. But first of all, the taps have to be installed.