Private Sector Participation

Providing and Expanding Water Provision and Solid Waste Collection Services in Peri-Urban and Rural Areas, January 2006 (597kb pdf)
In most developing countries, and particularly in Latin America,  small scale infrastructure providers (SSIPs) are proving to be responsive to the needs of the poor. They might be delivering water services through small private networks in urban areas or water associations in rural areas, or collecting solid waste in wheelbarrows, but they make their services available to the poor by using cheaper technology, adapting service standards, and permitting flexible payment schemes. This policy note presents the results of a study on SSIPs in El Salvador and discusses these results in a larger regional context.

Small-Scale Private Service Providers of Water Supply and Electricity, October 2005 (595kb pdf)
Small-scale providers of water supply and electricity have long been an important part of service delivery, particularly in peri-urban, rural and remote regions and in countries with failed public utilities. In contrast to these small scale community and government service providers, small-scale private service providers (SPSPs) have only recently gained acceptability as a viable alternative for developing and managing small-scale water supply and electricity services.  In recent years, national programs, policies and global forums have started to pay more attention to these providers. Many practitioners now acknowledge the potential role of SPSPs in developing and managing private water supply and electricity systems and in advancing local private sector development.  This exercise was conducted as a preparatory first phase of what has become known as the Policy Framework and Global Mapping Initiative (PFGMI), a global initiative to improve knowledge and understanding of SPSPs in water supply and electricity.

Output-Based Aid in Water: Lessons in Implementation from a Pilot in Paraguay, May 2005  (780kb pdf)
Paraguay's aguateros-small private water companies form an important part of the water sector, serving about 9 percent of the total population (or about 17 percent of those with piped water supply). But until recently they operated only in urban areas, where water resources are abundant, and they could choose customers, based on their ability to pay the full costs of providing service. A new Bank-funded initiative seeks to attract aguateros and construction firms active in the water sector to un-served rural areas and small towns, by providing an output-based aid subsidy, awarded through competitive bidding. The initiative is the first attempt anywhere to apply this approach to rural and small-town water sector investment. This Note can also be found as a Viewpoint article.

Delegating Water and Sanitation Services to Autonomous Operators, February 2005 (605kb pdf)
This field note documents the experience of the Rural and Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Program (PRAGUAS), executed in Ecuador and financed by the World Bank. Under the PRAGUAS program, the national government offers municipalities technical assistance and financial incentives to delegate the provision of water (and sanitation) services to autonomous (public or private) operators.  PRAGUAS represents an effort to modernize public water and sanitation services with the active participation of communities, municipalities, NGOs and the local private sector.

Colombia: Expanding Services to Low-Income Areas - Comparing Private and Public Water Utilities, May 2003 (509kb pdf)
Colombia is one of the most active Latin American countries in incorporating private sector participation (PSP) in managing water utilities. One of the community’s main concerns is that reforms that treat water and sanitation services as an economic asset rather than as a social good and that allow providers to apply commercial (profit-oriented) criteria, may tend to restrict access to the services for low-income users, because they are not perceived as attractive business clients by private entrepreneurs. The government is embarking on a water sector modernization program whose strategy is to promote PSP in water utilities. One of its objectives is to expand and improve the provision of services to the poor, so it was considered necessary to find out if the common perception of the population and the concern of the community that the private sector focuses on providing good services to the wealthy and neglects the poor, is anchored in reality and consistent with the performance of privatized utilities in Colombia. A study was carried out during project preparation to test this perception against actual experience.

Independent Water Entrepreneurs in Latin America: The Other Private Sector in Water Services, April 2003 (2.5M pdf)
The report summarizes the findings of research carried out by the Bank's Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) through 1999, outlining the six-country study of small scale providers in Latin America, and the important role that small scale service providers play in the delivery of services to under served, primarily poor, households in urban areas.

 

ACTIVE PROJECTS

Updated February 2006