India's economic growth and levels of poverty are increasingly being determined by the productivity of its towns and cities. This potential of the urban sector to contribute to national welfare requires, among other factors, adequate infrastructure services for generating economic growth and reducing poverty.
... Exibir mais + Current public institutions do not have the financial and human resources to bridge the infrastructure gap and meet this challenge. It has therefore become necessary to involve the private sector in service provision. The water and sanitation sector has not been immune from the daunting challenges of service delivery facing the urban sector in general. Cities in India do not supply water twenty four hours a day, seven days a week; the poor are often excluded from formal service provision; and we have not broken the cycle of water-borne health problems. The urban water sector needs urgent attention and here, too, the role of the private sector needs to be explored. This report is part of such an overall process to support our efforts. The focus will be on the urban water sector and ways that Private Sector Participation (PSP) arrangements can contribute to making the sector more efficient while serving the poor.
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In 1993, a 30-year concession contract was awarded to a private company, to operate the water, and sewerage services in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
... Exibir mais + At the time, tariffs barely covered the costs of the inefficient utility running the system, and water had been made artificially scarce by poor management, despite an abundant, and easily tapped source. The concession attracted three bidders who offered lower tariffs, and annual investments of U$S 240 million over the first five years; annual investment over the previous decade had been only U$S 10 million. Those consumers who were already connected to the system, initially benefited from a significant drop in tariffs, and improvements in the quality and reliability of service. Expansion targets, set by geographical area, with poor areas prioritized, resulted in large numbers of new households being connected. However, affordability for the poor has been a concern, and seemingly, the benefits have accrued largely to the middle-class consumers. An unpopular decision to pass the cost of system expansion on to new consumers in the form of a hefty infrastructure charge, was one of the issues leading to early contract renegotiations. Weak, and ineffective regulation led to erosion of public confidence, but the Buenos Aires concession demonstrates the importance of effective regulation, and of understanding the impact of concession design, and pricing policy decisions on the poor.
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In 1998, the Pune Municipal Corporation attempted to implement an urban environmental infrastructure project, valued at approximately U$S 185 million.
... Exibir mais + Though construction, and management contracts with a private sector firm. The project was an integral part of a 25-year strategic plan, which aimed to gradually extend, to the total population, a 24-hour water supply, and sewerage service. This groundbreaking partnership was also designed to ensure that Pune remained an attractive economic destination for investors. Had it succeeded, it would have provided a model for other cities in India seeking to improve services through private sector partnerships. The project was canceled for a number of reasons, but the most critical was a loss of political support. This case study seeks to analyze the challenges faced in the preparation of the project, many of which are illustrative of the obstacles to water sector reform, including increased private sector participation, in South Asia.
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