Heraldo de Madrid - Guinea caps bottled water prices after sachets banned

The nationwide ban on plastic packaging and other items came into effect on September 20 and targeted sachets in particular, which are sold in a number of African countries.

The sachets contain approximately 40 centilitres (1.7 cups) of water and are drunk by much of the population due to their affordability at 500 Guinean francs ($0.05) per sachet.

The ban caused a rush on bottled water and within days stocks ran out and prices skyrocketed.

It has also raised fears about people resorting to water from boreholes and wells that is unfit for drinking.

Souleymane Barry, a private-sector worker who was on his lunch break in the Coleah neighbourhood near Conakry's city centre, told AFP he had been to five shops "and still no water".

"If I can't drink, I won't eat," he said.

The Union for the Defence of Guinea Consumers has expressed concern over the drinking water shortage.

"We are calling on the government for a one-year moratorium" on implementation of the plastic ban, its president M'Bany Sidibe told AFP.

He emphasised that "viable alternatives" must be found before water sachets are banned.

Ben Youssouf Keita, a physician, said that while the quality of water in the sachets was "generally acceptable", consumers were now drinking from boreholes or wells where water "is often unfit for consumption".

He said he feared a rise in diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery and typhoid.

"At the very least, the government should launch a major prevention campaign urging the population to boil water from boreholes or wells to eliminate bacteria," he said.

The government decree on prices came into effect Wednesday and caps the retail price of a six-pack of 1.5-litre bottles at 25,000 Guinean francs ($2.84), for example.

Retailers are required to display prices and wholesale transactions must be accompanied by an itemised invoice.

M.Soler--HdM