This paper analyses the “arduous and contingent” process of creating the “preconditions” for financialised forms of development in urban Kenya. Building on a growing critical literature on how finance is shaping development in the global South, the paper traces the more-or-less concerted effort of an array of actors and intermediaries to create a functioning market for urban water services. Such efforts, which are justified through appeals to a “finance gap” are an attempt to connect capital seeking profitable investment opportunities with a sector long starved of funding. The pursuit of financialised models of water provision, however, is deepening the gulf between service areas that are deemed profitable (or potentially profitable) and those that are not. The paper argues that it is not lack of money, but an emerging system of water service provision which prioritises commercial principles and value extraction, that shapes where investment does (and crucially) does not flow.

中文翻译：

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“钱不是问题”：肯尼亚水部门的缓慢金融化

本文分析了为肯尼亚城市金融化发展形式创造“先决条件”的“艰巨而偶然”的过程。在关于金融如何影响全球南方发展的越来越多的批判性文献的基础上，本文追溯了一系列参与者和中介机构或多或少的协同努力，为城市供水服务创造了一个有效的市场。这种通过诉诸“资金缺口”而得到证明的努力是为了将寻求有利可图的投资机会的资本与长期缺乏资金的部门联系起来。然而，对供水金融化模式的追求正在加深被认为有利可图（或潜在有利可图）的服务领域与不有利可图的服务领域之间的鸿沟。该报认为，不是缺钱，确实（并且至关重要）不流动。