Bloomberg reports, “Veolia Environnement SA (VIE) will lose its water contract for Nice after Mayor Christian Estrosi said he wants the French city to control its water management from February 2015, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.”
France 3 reports (in French), “The president of the city Nice Côte d’Azur, Christian Estrosi, announced Friday his choice to return in the regulated water utility of the city of Nice in February 2015, which was previously assigned to Veolia. Veolia will also lose its contracts with the municipalities of Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Cap d’Ail, Eze and Villefranche-sur-mer starting in September 2014, as well as the ski resort of Isola 2000 in July once these decisions are endorsed on March 28 in a metropolitan council.”
In France, more than 40 municipalities and urban communities have taken their water services back from private, for-profit operators over the last ten years and are delivering improved, less-costly services.
The Financial Times reported last week that Antoine Frérot, the Veolia chief executive, has announced that his company returned to net profit in 2012. “Frérot still has an enormous challenge reversing the decline in Veolia’s underlying profits. Its water, waste and energy divisions all suffered double-digit drops in operating income last year. …The group makes 70 per cent of its sales in France, Germany, the UK and US, but Mr Frérot wants to cut this to 50 per cent in five years. …It also wants half of its revenues to come from industrial customers in five years, up from 30 per cent now, to lessen its reliance on austerity-hit municipal bodies. …He wants to develop higher margin activities such as toxic waste treatment and management of scarce natural resources (and the decommissioning of nuclear plants).”
For more about Veolia, please read:
NEWS: Sechelt pursues P3 sewage treatment plant with Veolia
UPDATE: Council of Canadians and CUPE to screen ‘Water Makes Money’ in Regina
Lessons from Moncton’s water privatization experience
NEWS: Winnipeg chapter condemns City signing contract with Veolia
NEWS: Berlin water utility remunicipalization could cost $1.6 billion
VIDEO: Paris deputy mayor speaks on reclaiming water services from Veolia, Suez
UPDATE: The story of Veolia in Brussels
More at http://canadians.org/blog/?s=veolia.
