A Governance Approach To Urban Water Public Private Partnerships

This publication explores the challenge of providing universal access to water and sanitation in fast-growing cities in Asia and the Pacific. It highlights the potential of well-managed public–private partnerships (PPPs) to help meet this challenge and discusses lessons from seven water sector PPPs in the region. It explains how countries can strengthen water governance, foster enabling environments, and design tailored strategies to promote successful PPPs. The report emphasizes that governments can work with the private sector to enhance value for money and provide equitable urban water and sanitation access that will help improve lives.

This book examines the role played by business in urban water governance by analyzing the evolution of the global private water sector along with four public-private partnerships in Mexico and the U.S. The local nature of water services often hides the global developments behind the rise of transnational water corporations, which have gone from being local operators to becoming dynamic and powerful actors within an interconnected transnational space for water. This book focuses on the French groups Veolia and Suez, two of the most prominent private actors in global water governance, and the development and adaptation strategies of both companies in the cities of Aguascalientes, Mexico City, Atlanta, and Milwaukee over the past 30 years. Drawing on over 100 interviews conducted with corporate executives, public authorities, and local users of water services, this book moves beyond the simplistic dichotomy of the public-private debate and develops a theoretical framework that analyzes the economic and political power wielded by transnational business actors in global water governance. Not only does the book explain how Veolia and Suez strategically mobilize resources at difference scales in order to expand their global operations, but it also provides a nuanced picture of how state regulation remains of central importance to understanding the dynamics and evolution of the global water sector. Students and scholars interested in business and the environment, including public-private partnerships, business management and transnational corporations, and water governance, will find this book of great interest as will professionals and policymakers working in these fields.

'Public-Private Partnerships for Urban Water Utilities: A Review of Experiences in Developing Countries' analyzes the market growth of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the developing world since 1990, and the performance of more than 65 large water PPP projects representing more than 100 million people for access, service quality, operational efficiency, and tariff levels. Although a relatively small portion of the water utilities in the developing world are operated under PPPs (about 7 percent in 2007), the urban population served by private water operators has grown every year since 1990. Despite many difficulties encountered by PPP projects and a few contract terminations, a large majority of contracts awarded since 1990 are still in place. The track record for improving service and efficiency reaffirms the value of PPPs to help turn around poorly performing water utilities, even though the level of private financing did not match initial expectations. Over time, a more realistic market has developed, the number of private investors from developing countries has grown, and contract designs have become more pragmatic concerning risk allocations between partners. The water sector has many features that set it apart from other infrastructure sectors. This book suggests the need for careful consideration of those specificities to successfully involve private operators. Although concessions with private financing have worked in a few places, contractual arrangements that combine private operation with public financing appear to be the most sustainable option in many countries. Policy makers, stakeholders, and donors need to remain heavily engaged in the water sector, especially in the poorest countries and during a global financial crisis. This book contributes to a better understanding of the various options to tackle the many challenges of providing water and sanitation services to urban populations in the developing world.

Public sector funding and resources are often inadequate to meet increasing demands for investment and effective management, and a growing case history shows increasing involvement by the private sector in provision of infrastructure and services through PPP arrangements. The objective of this book is to determine, and make recommendations on, means of optimizing the use of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in development of infrastructure whilst ensuring the sustainable long term provision of water and waste water services. The focus is on providing detailed recommendations on contractual issues and contract structures to achieve this objective. Public Private Partnerships in the Water Sector - Innovation and Financial Sustainability: Identifies what is needed to establish effective and sustainable water and wastewater service reform when using a PPP arrangement, and importantly how those issues can be addressed contractually. Provides specific recommendations of a comprehensive and detailed approach to contract drafting to ensure effective, sustainable and long term provision of water and wastewater services, including an approach for adaptation of public procurement procedures for PPP arrangements. Recommends a proposed approach to dealing with the influence of imperfect or unavailable data on the long term effectiveness or sustainability. This is a practical and pragmatic book in which the authors share their considerable experience on devising and implementing PPPs in the water sector. It is aimed primarily at practitioners working with developing countries but its recommendations will also be suitable for application in developed countries. It is also a useful reference for postgraduates and academics studying infrastructure development. See also: Public and Private Participation in the Water and Wastewater Sector - Developing Sustainable Legal Mechanisms, Cledan Mandri-Perrott, 2009 Private Sector Participation in Water Infrastructure, Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), 2009.

ÔEnsuring that everybody has access to drinking water, sanitation and enough nutritious food, which depends on water to grow it, are prerequisites for a healthy life. Water management is not just about the technical aspects of water supply and sanitation. It is equally about our water governance systems, including policies, regulation and societal perception of water rights. This book presents many helpful examples of how different societies are dealing with these issues and of the performance of public and private sector players in this important arena.Õ Ð Colin Chartres, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo, Sri Lanka ÔI congratulate the Institute of Water Policy, the two editors and the contributors for a very thoughtful book on urban water governance. Our objective is to deliver sustainable water and sanitation services to our people. This book contains useful lessons on how to achieve that objective.Õ Ð Tommy Koh, Chairman, Governing Council, Asia-Pacific Water Forum This insightful book explores urban water governance challenges in different parts of the world and highlights the advantages and disadvantages of publicly run, privatized, and publicÐprivate partnership managed water facilities. The contributors expertly discuss various types of public and private water governance architectures as well as identifying the trends, challenges, opportunities and the shifts in perceptions with regard to the provision of water supply services. Many chapters are dedicated to analyzing the urban water supply scenarios in selected countries, with specific focus on legal, policy and institutional frameworks. The study reveals that while private sector participation has been largely promoted by multilateral institutions as part of institutional and financial reforms, ultimately governments bear the major responsibility for provision of water supply services either as Ôservice providerÕ or as Ôregulator and policy-makerÕ. Containing a detailed overview and analysis of the global urban water supply sector, this timely compendium will strongly appeal to academics, researchers and university students following water-related courses. Water sector professionals, water regulators and public officers as well as managers and researchers employed by private sector water operators will also find plenty of invaluable information in this important book.

The objective of Public Private Partnerships in the Water Sector: Innovation and Financial Sustainability is to determine, and make recommendations on, means of optimizing the use of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in development of infrastructure whilst ensuring the sustainable long term provision of water and waste water services. Public sector funding and resources are often inadequate to meet increasing demands for investment and effective management, and a growing case history shows increasing involvement by the private sector in provision of infrastructure and services through PPP arrangements. The objective of this book is to determine, and make recommendations on, means of optimizing the use of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in development of infrastructure whilst ensuring the sustainable long term provision of water and waste water services. The focus is on providing detailed recommendations on contractual issues and contract structures to achieve this objective. Public Private Partnerships in the Water Sector - Innovation and Financial Sustainability: Identifies what is needed to establish effective and sustainable water and wastewater service reform when using a PPP arrangement, and importantly how those issues can be addressed contractually. Provides specific recommendations of a comprehensive and detailed approach to contract drafting to ensure effective, sustainable and long term provision of water and wastewater services, including an approach for adaptation of public procurement procedures for PPP arrangements. Recommends a proposed approach to dealing with the influence of imperfect or unavailable data on the long term effectiveness or sustainability. This is a practical and pragmatic book in which the author shares his considerable experience on devising and implementing PPPs in the water sector. It is aimed primarily at practitioners working with developing countries but its recommendations will also be suitable for application in developed countries. It will also be a useful reference for postgraduates and academics studying infrastructure development.

Water is becoming one of the world's most crucial concerns. A third of the world's population has severe water shortage, while three quarters of the global population lives in deltas which run the risk of severe flooding. In addition, many more face problems of poor water quality. While it is apparent that drastic action should be taken, in reality, water problems are complex and not at all easy to resolve. There are many stakeholders involved - industries, local municipalities, farmers, the recreational sector, environmental organisations, and others - who all approach the problems and possible solutions differently. This requires delicate ways of governing multi-actor processes. This book approaches the concept of 'water management' from an interdisciplinary and non-technical, but governance orientation. It departs from the fragmented nature of water management, showing how these lack cooperation, joint responsibility and integration and instead argues that the capacity to connect to other domains, levels, scales, organizations and actors is of utmost importance. Connective capacity revolves around connecting arrangements (such as institutions), actors (for instance individuals) and approaches (such as instruments). These three carriers of connectedness can be applied to different focal points (the objects of fragmentation and integration in water management). The book distinguishes five different focal points: (1) government layers and levels; (2) sectors and domains; (3) time orientation of the long and the short term; (4) perceptions and actor frames; (5) public and private spheres. Each contributor pays attention to a specific combination of one focal point and one connective carrier. Bringing together case studies from countries including The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Romania, Sweden, Finland, Italy, India, Canada and the United States, the book focuses on the question of how to deal with the various sources of fragmentation in water governance by organizing meaningful connections and developing 'connective capacity'. In doing so, it provides useful scientific and practical insights into how 'connective capacity' in water governance can be enhanced.

This book examines the challenge of reform of the urban water supply sector in developing countries, based on case studies of state-owned water companies in Ghana, India, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. The growing public private partnership for urban water supply is analyzed, focussing on the concession contract model. The implications for meeting the water needs of the urban poor, for the regulatory role of the state and for state capacity building are also discussed.