These agreements sometimes involve sales of state assets and greater economic deregulation, based on the assumption that the private sector is more efficient and better for growth. This leads to women and girls spending more time on daily livelihood activities such as fetching clean water, cooking and caring for the ill, young or frail elderly. In 1999, the Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia privatized the municipal water system in Cochabamba, granting a 40-year contract to Bechtel, a multinational based in the United States. It subsequently cancelled the contract in the face of widespread protest due to the company's failure to supply adequate water, especially to poor communities.