Agbar and public-private partnerships

For 142 years Agbar has unfolded its business activity with the intention of being a corporate group of reference in water management.

The core values of our company are to achieve excellence in the services we provide (an essential aspect of millions of citizens' quality of life), to promote innovation, to foster dialogue, to commit with groups of interest and to develop a sustainable business.

In view of the growing complexity of social relations, and consequently, of the provision of public services, values such as knowledge management, professionalism and the desire to establish long-term agreements become increasingly more significant over time, especially in a partnership framework that involves both the public and private sectors.

We must all adapt to global changes. Climate, demographic evolution, the growing urban population, amongst other phenomenon, all have repercussions as regards water and bring to light problems concerning access, quality or sanitation that can only be tackled through efficient management.

The new Public Sector Contracts Act describes, by means of a specific concept, an approach that Agbar has always adopted, namely public-private partnerships. Whether they be through the pre-existing concession formulas or through the new partnership mechanisms like those drafted in the new regulations, public-private partnerships are a vital instrument in the resolution of conflicts that arise as a result of water being both a resource and an element of the natural environment.

Each of the social agents must carry out a decisive role amidst these ever more complex circumstances. Water is considered, more or less universally, a public resource and as such it should be protected by the State. Water management, however, should be carried out according to efficiency parameters and in this respect private operators can play a very important role. All this should be carried out in a clear, impartial and well balanced regulatory framework that will result in sustaining and improving the living conditions of citizens, which is, after all, the fundamental objective.

The new Act allows companies such as Agbar to share their experience and knowledge in a transparent and responsible way so as to achieve a solution that will benefit everyone: citizens, administrations and private companies.

In this context, Fundació Agbar plays a key role in the discussion regarding service provision improvement and it helps to create a suitable setting for dialogue that encourages a situation where rules are transparent, citizens are well-informed and private operators are efficient.