The donor funding,beneficiary contribution and sustainability issues in water projects implementation

Lack of water services in our villages leads to various approaches in trying to solve the problem.The expected automatic respondent is the government but it has its hands full,or rather its pockets empty.Foreign donors come to the rescue if they are contacted and are allowed to weigh the situation and,get this!! THEY IMPOSE CONDITIONS.The conditions do not intend to harm anybody,they are a mere prerequisite for sustainable cooperation and are planned so as to assure smooth implementation as well as prevent reinvesting in the same infrastructure at the same place in future due to disrepair.

CONDITION NUMBER 1: BENEFICIARY CONTRIBUTION,MANUAL OR OTHERWISE.

CONDITION NUMBER2:STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVEMENT

CONDITION NUMBER 3:TIMELY AND TRANSPARENT PROCUREMENT AND DELIVERY OF MATERIALS & QUALITY,AFFORDABLE WORKMANSHIP.

CONDITION NUMBER 4:RESPONSIBLE,MEASURABLE CONSUMPTION OF SERVICES AND PROPORTIONAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE MAINTENANCE AND SUSTAINABILITY FUND. 

Those are the main conditions underlying the donor funding of water projects around Moshi district and indeed all over Tanzania, possibly even beyond our borders.But the challenge remains:where is the readiness of project beneficiaries to pay for the service and hence contribute to the fund responsible for the day to day maintenance and the consequential long run sustainability thereof?

Conflicting points of view at play are:

1. We were getting it for free from rivers,furrows etc. so why pay now?,...but an investment has been made to relieve you the burden of carrying water that far,how do you appreciate?
2. The system has been built and is in place already so what is the money for?.....but these systems tend to break down and need repairs they are not forever you know.
3. What is the need for water meters,why shouldn't everybody pay a at a flat rate?....different households and institutions tend to have different living standards and different water consumption patterns,how then can fairness be established other than through metering? again who would walk around controlling misuse?