 
 In the South Asia Region (SAR), 84 percent of the population has access to water supply and 35 percent has access to sanitation.
South Asia has made significant strides in improving access to physical infrastructure, but slow progress in institutional (especially cost recovery) and policy reforms has resulted in declining service quality. Continued urban population growth is likely to further increase the gap between the served and unserved. The major challenges in South Asia are to:  Undertake institutional and policy reforms that lead to the sustainability of water supply and sanitation (WSS), rather than adding to the considerable public investment in the sector
Scale up sanitation and wastewater management activities; Address water resources management (WRM) issues - exploitation of groundwater and declining water quality (e.g., high levels of arsenic). |
The World Bank continues to focus on knowledge work in the area of policy and institutional reforms in rural WSS and urban WSS. Several countries have now adopted national policies that encourage community-based service delivery of WSS in rural areas, such as Sri Lanka and Nepal. Dialogue and the pace of reforms in urban WSS has been much slower. While there is increasing recognition of the need for reform (Delhi, Lahore), it is still not reflected on the ground.
Current thematic lending includes: | | Extending Services to the Urban Poor | Lending focuses on slum upgrading (e.g., a slum sanitation pilot project in India) and municipal development projects. | | | Increasing Rural Access | The bulk of SAR lending has been through stand-alone rural WSS projects and multisectoral rural development operations. | | | Improving Operator Performance | Slow progress in reforms has resulted in limited lending for urban WSS with pilot operations initiated in India and planned in Pakistan and Bangladesh; knowledge work has led to increased attention to cost recovery and tariff setting. | | | Managing Water Resources Effectively | Lending for water resources increased through several WRM and multisectoral rural development operations. |
The total IBRD/IDA financing approved for WSS components between FY96 and FY07 is close to US$1.7 billion. Lending focuses on self standing rural WSS projects, WSS components, and lending in urban management and water resources. 
* FY - Fiscal Year, 12 month period ending June 30
Analytical and Advisory Work -- Knowledge work, advocacy and policy research remain the priorities, including documentation and dissemination of success stories, advisory services on private sector options, and advocacy and dialogue aimed at improving understanding of the issues among decision makers and civil society. |
RSS