Other Infrastructure Study
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Publication
Fit for Purpose: Dam Rehabilitation Prioritization Tool in Zimbabwe
(Washington, DC, 2022)As a nation with highly variable and limited availability of water resources, Zimbabwe relies on a vast and aging water infrastructure stock that requires prompt rehabilitation to better support the water, food, and energy sectors. The country has limited water resources, with much of its area classified as semi-arid with highly variable rainfall. Zimbabwe relies on dams to store water to ensure irrigation for food security, water supply, and hydropower production. It has the second highest water storage capacity per capita in Southern Africa. There are about 10,000 dams, from large to small, and more publicly owned dams than private dams. -
Publication
Malawi: Mobilizing Long-Term Finance for Infrastructure
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-02)Malawi has a large infrastructure gap, which is beyond what the government can afford. Over the period of two decades (1998-2017), the total public investment in Malawi averaged 4.18 percent of GDP per year while in the energy and water and sanitation sectors alone, a similar level of investment, about 4 percent of GDP annually, will be required to meet the growing infrastructure demand. At the same time, the fiscal space has been decreasing as evidenced by the growing public debt, total public debt increased from 28 percent of GDP in 2007 to 63 percent of GDP in 2019. In this context, Malawi needs to make well though-out choices in prioritizing its investment program, improve the efficiency of infrastructure planning and implementation, and crowd-in financing from both foreign and domestic private investors. The report argues that the preconditions for enabling the needed transformation exist. Improvements in the macro-economic environment in the past five years makes private investment more possible, although in the short-term, the COVID-19 pandemic will have a negative impact as risk aversion increases. The regulatory framework for public-private partnerships (PPPs) is in place and further evolving, and a large PPP in the energy sector (about $1 billion) is currently under development. Domestic long-term investors (pension funds and life insurance companies) have been rapidly accumulating long-term funds in the past few years (especially after regulatory reforms to introduce a mandatory pension system) and are looking for long-term investment opportunities. The report proposes that the Government of Malawi (GoM) undertakes reforms to improve the fiscal space and in turn increase infrastructure investments through its own resources and encourage the role of the private sector in the financing of infrastructure. More specifically, the GoM can (a) improve the efficiency of the public investment management framework and integrate it with the PPP framework, (b) improve the efficiency of infrastructure delivering state-owned enterprises, (c) advance the PPP program by allocating resources to develop the needed capacity, and (d) deepen the domestic long-term finance market by availing long-term liquidity facilities to catalyze bank lending to infrastructure, issuing regulations to expand the range of long-term finance instruments and vehicles, and introducing a program of transaction testing, piloting, and market sounding to systematically link supply and demand side of the infrastructure finance, among others. -
Publication
Energy-Water Nexus in Southern Africa: Background Paper to Support Dialogue in the Region
(Washington, DC, 2016-06-30)The objective of this paper is to provide high-level background information on the interdependency between the supply of electricity and water in Southern Africa. The paper assimilates information based an extensive review of recent work on the energy and watersectors in the region and beyond, and the World Bank’s sector dialogue in the region. The paper is intended to help facilitate a dialogue on the energy-water nexus in the region, especially fromthe perspective of electricity sector planning, and help the World Bank engage key sectorstakeholders on the issue.The value of this paper is in bringing together the latest knowledge work and other key information relevant for energy-water nexus dialogue in Southern Africa. This information has been derived from a number of fragmented sources, and an effort has been made to present the information in a logical framework, in one document that can help initiate discussions in the region.This paper was conceptualized as a background discussion paper and does not seek to make any recommendations on policy alternatives to tackle challenges facing the region on energy-water nexus issues. Any recommendations should be rooted in a thorough assessment of the specificchallenges, institutions and objectives of the region; and most importantly should follow from aconstructive regional dialogue amongst key stakeholders.The issues and implications that surround the energy-water nexus are numerous. The use of electricity and water as critical inputs to economic activity, implies that there are many interlinkages that can be explored. To increase the usefulness of the information and the framework presented, this paper focuses on the perspective of electricity supply, and highlights nexus issues that are directly relevant to it. Important related nexus issues such as agriculture and its dependence on reliable water and electricity (the energy-water-food nexus) are not considered and are left for future work. Thus, in referring to the energy–water nexus, the paper considers issues on electricity and water sectors in relation to electricity supply and long-term planning around it, including the feedback loop to water. By highlighting key analytical work and drawing insights relevant to Southern Africa, this paper aims to support an informed regional dialogue on decision making about the energy–water nexus in the region. -
Publication
Zimbabwe Infrastructure Policy Review
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-12-09)Many empirical studies have demonstrated the close relationship between a country’s economic development and its stock of infrastructure. Decades of deferred maintenance and lack of long-term financing have taken a heavy toll on Zimbabwe’s infrastructure that at one time was ranked at the top in Africa. Only the information and communications technologies (ICT) sector has been performing relatively well but its high tariffs add to the cost of doing business in Zimbabwe. The strategy in the infrastructure sectors is to encourage public private partnerships (PPPs) for the financing and execution of the different sub-projects. This strategy has been emerging in the electric power, road transport, and ICT sectors and is now being extended to water supply and sanitation. This review builds on the findings from an October-November 2013 mission that, upon the request of the Ministry of Finance, assessed the ministerial submissions for the 2014 public sector investment program (PSIP). The review concludes that the perception of the predictable policies is key for attracting responsible private partners for sustainable PPPs. The review recommends less risky options such as: (i) outsourcing operations of existing plants; (ii) lease contracts of existing plants; and (iii) sales of existing thermal plants. The review notes that the analytical multi donor trust fund (AMDTF) is programmed to close on June 30, 2014. It is of the essence to explore the possibilities to locate concessionary funding for a successor to the AMDTF given the high priority of additional studies in the power, water, and ICT sectors to prepare for the reforms suggested. -
Publication
The Future of Water in African Cities : Why Waste Water? Integrated Urban Water Management, Background Report
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-12)The primary objective of this report is to provide a coherent and comprehensive review on integrated urban water management (IUWM) approach to assist public authorities to identify and address the future challenges of urban water supply, sanitation and flood management in African cities. This report presents the existing and future challenges in Africa, the possible options for innovative technologies and approaches for their breakthrough and a way forward to achieve the objectives of IUWM. It highlights technical and institutional constraints of the IUWM in Africa. It presents the global and African best practices and trends in IUWM which are linked to urban development and which have very good lessons learnt that can be shared within and among the cities in Africa. The report consists of four chapters. Chapter two reviews the existing condition, future challenges and opportunities in Urban Water Sector (UWS) in Africa. The review covers the current situation of urban water systems and their management approaches; the major future change pressures (climate change, population growth and urbanization, deterioration of infrastructure systems) and their impacts on UWS; and opportunities for implementing the IUWM approach in Africa. Chapter three introduces the key concepts and conceptual framework of IUWM. The framework has been supplemented by appropriate technologies and innovative approaches of IUWM that will be suitable for cities in Africa. This chapter also presents the global experiences and best practices of IUWM that can be shared within the Africa cities. Chapter four presents case studies to demonstrate how the IUWM framework can be operationalized and to select the appropriate technologies and approaches as discussed in chapter 3 based on the different typologies of the cities and development stages in Africa. The typologies include an emerging town in Uganda (Masindi), a city with partially developed infrastructure in Ghana (Accra) and fully developed city in South Africa (Cape Town). Based on the cases, a few recommendations (road map) for the implementation of IUWM approach for other cities in Africa have been presented in chapter four. -
Publication
The Future of Water in African Cities : Why Waste Water? Urban Access to Water Supply and Sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa, Background Report
(Washington, DC, 2012-12)The main purpose of this paper is to explain the patterns of access to water supply and sanitation facilities in urban areas in Sub-Saharan Africa since the late 90's, and its relation with the performance of service providers in the case of improved water supply. It also seeks to explore the institutional context of the water supply and sanitation sectors. The paper concludes that services providers in Sub-Saharan Africa have been unable to keep up with urban population growth. Service providers are overwhelmed by the pace of urban population growth as they face high distributional losses, low billing collection, overstaffing, and under recovery of costs. The institutional frameworks are yet to be completed as there is vast political inference in service provision and regulation, as well as obstacles for effectively undertake public private partnerships. The paper is organized as follows. Section one presents definitions of water supply sources and sanitation, as well as the sources of data used for the analysis. Section two discusses the current and projected trends of urbanization, and introduces the country clustering used for analytical purposes. Section three and four present pathways of access to water supply sources and sanitation facilities -respectively- in urban areas in Sub-Saharan Africa, and discusses trends in access by country cluster. Section five explains the operational and financial performance of services providers in the region. Section six explores the existing institutional arrangements for the urban water supply and sanitation service provision. Finally, section six presents the main challenges for the future expansion of sustainable improved water supply and sanitation services. -
Publication
The Future of Water in African Cities : Why Waste Water? Integrating Urban Planning and Water Management in Sub-Saharan Africa, Background Report
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-01)This paper is one of a series of analytical studies commissioned by the World Bank's Africa Region and Water Anchor which are intended to identify and address the future challenges of urban water supply, sanitation and flood management in Sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA) cities and towns. Following the terms of reference for the assignment, and as indicated by its title, the paper is directed at understanding and describing the linkages and interdependencies between water management and water security on the one hand, and urbanization, urban planning and development on the other. The paper is structured in six sections. Section one presents an overview of urbanization trends in SSA. This is followed by a discussion in Section two of what can be seen as the corollary of the unprecedented urban population growth now occurring and projected for SSA, large-scale urban expansion, involving potentially massive increases in urban land cover. This expansion has implications, also discussed in section two, for the internal structuring of African cities and towns, and for the planning and development of the overall urban form which is resulting, as well as for the environmental risks cities and towns face now and into the future. This 'poor urban planning' in the present-day has its roots in the inherited practices of colonial-era planning theories and practices, which are described in section three. These still resonate, as discussed in section four, which discusses key constituent aspects of contemporary planning systems in Africa, as illustrated by a number of case studies. In section five, the focus shifts to the current institutional experience with urban water management, again with a number of good practice cases provided. The author then turn in the concluding section seven to the key concern of this issues paper: that of integrating urban planning and water management as the Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) approach emerges- or, perhaps to put it better, of finding ways in which such integration can promote the emergence of IUWM. This is a necessary but difficult task, complicated by the reality that, as seen in the quote above, IUWM requires quite considerable coordination within the water sector alone. Moreover, our preceding analysis demonstrates, and this is the core argument of this paper, that seen from the side of the overall urban planning system, the deficiencies, decline and the delegitimizing of the 'traditional' planning system and practices in SSA, and the theory which underpins them, along with the failure to modernize them in a consistent fashion, has led, if anything, to greater fragmentation in the planning and managing of urban development. Land use planning and infrastructure (and other sector) planning, including water, typically occur in an uncoordinated fashion. This makes planning adequately for large-scale urban growth and expansion that much more difficult. -
Publication
The Future of Water in African Cities : Why Waste Water? Diagnostic of Urban Water Management in 31 Cities in Africa, Companion Volume
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-01)By 2030, Africa's urban population will double, and the difficulties African cities currently face in providing sustainable water services will be exacerbated. 'The future of water in African cities: why waste water?' argues that the traditional approach of one source, one system, and one discharge cannot close the water gap. A more integrated, sustainable, and flexible approach, which takes into account new concepts such as water fit to a purpose, is needed in African cities. The book provides examples of cities in Africa and beyond that have already implemented Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) approaches both in terms of technical and institutional solutions. Case studies explore the ways in which IUWM can help meet future water demand in African cities. Recent work carried out by Bahri (2012) on IUWM for the Global Water Partnership has also emphasized the necessity to examine the challenges posed by urban sprawl for urban planners and to recognize the need for coordinate, response, and sustainable resource management across sectors, sources, services and scales. The World Bank has recognized a need for an integrated approach to urban water management. As part hereof the issue has come to the forefront: What is the specific character of the water challenge in African cities and how can we compare the severity of the challenge, the need for integrated approach and the local capacity to respond to these challenges? The study presented in this companion volume is an initial attempt to answer this question. -
Publication
Towards a Strategic Analysis of Water Resources Investments in Kenya : Hydrological, Economic, and Institutional Assessment for Storage Development
(Washington, DC, 2011-06-30)The objective of this study was to advance the process of prioritizing water storage investments that could reduce water stress in economically important areas. The specific objectives of the study were to (i) outline a comprehensive framework for screening of potential storage sites; (ii) identify important water stressed areas through an updated water balance; (iii) assess alternative multipurpose water storage projects through physical, hydrological and economic criteria; and (iv) analyze institutional and financing aspects of water resources development in Kenya to identify capacity and knowledge inadequacies. The study focused on identifying viable surface water storage projects to increase water supply reliability and mitigate the effects of common multi-year droughts. No new estimates of groundwater resources were made, though they were considered in quantifying overall water availability. The scope of the study was limited to an initial screening of infrastructure options that will increase the reliability of water supply. The state of water service delivery was not assessed as it was outside the scope of this study. -
Publication
Uganda Water Assistance Strategy
(Washington, DC, 2011-06)Over the past 25 years, Uganda has experienced sustained economic growth, supported by a prudent macroeconomic framework and propelled by consistent policy reforms. Annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth averaged 7.4 percent in the 2000s, compared with 6.5 in the 1990s. Economic growth has enabled substantial poverty reduction, with the proportion of people living in poverty more than halving from 56 percent in the 1992 to 23.3 percent in 2009. However, welfare improvements have not been shared equally; there is increasing urban rural inequality and inequality between regions. Revitalizing economic growth and tackling persistent poverty will require addressing a number of challenges. These include alleviating infrastructure bottlenecks; increasing agricultural productivity; managing land, water and other natural resources; addressing demographic challenges; and confronting governance issues. The development and management of water resources is intimately linked to Uganda's continued development ambitions. Water can be both a positive force-providing productive input to agriculture, industry, energy and tourism, and sustaining human and environmental health-as well as a destructive one-to which the devastating consequences of floods and droughts can attest. The National Water Resources Assessment (NWRA) estimates that Uganda's total renewable water resources are about 43 million cubic meters (MCM), less than was estimated in the Ministry of Water and Environment's (MWE's) Sector Investment Plan (SIP) in 2009. About 13 percent of this is sustainable groundwater (5.67 MCM) and the balance is surface water (37.41 MCM). About one half of all districts in Uganda experience annual rainfall deficits-the difference between evapotranspiration and rainfall-ranging from slightly above zero to 400 mm. The frequency of rainfall anomalies below normal (or long-term annual average) is significantly greater than the frequency of rainfall anomalies higher than normal. The Uganda water Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) aims to assist the Government of Uganda (GoU) in identifying priority actions for building on successful outcomes, tackling remaining challenges, and exploiting opportunities in Uganda's water sector. The objective of the water CAS is to define the World Bank's strategic role in supporting GoU to better manage and develop its water resources. The recommendations of the water CAS are complementary to the World Bank Uganda Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) 2011-15 priorities for Uganda and consistent with the country's development objectives as defined in the National Development Plan (NDP) and water and related sector plans and strategies, which form the foundation of the World Bank Uganda CAS.