Publication: Water and Sanitation in Indian Cities: Knowledge Framework for Promoting Sustainable and Bankable Water Supply, Sanitation, and Solid Waste Management
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2025-12-02
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2025-12-15
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The Water and Sanitation in Indian Cities Knowledge Framework outlines a strategy for modernizing water supply and sanitation (WSS) and solid waste management (SWM) services in 100 large Indian cities, leveraging bankable projects. The framework is informed by assessments of infrastructure and service performance across these cities, in-depth diagnostics of 10 selected cities, and relevant lessons from India and around the globe. Its key objective is to support decision-makers at the national, state, and municipal levels as they work to improve service delivery through bankable projects that prioritize revenue generation, cost efficiency, and the institutional capacity required for sustainable operations and maintenance. The analytical findings highlight substantial progress in the WSS and SWM sectors in large urban centers across India, especially in infrastructure coverage and capacity. Diagnostics also reveal opportunities for growth in service quality, efficiency, and sustainability. Further efforts are required to close the infrastructure coverage gap and accelerate the modernization of WSS and SWM systems and asset management. While several Indian cities have implemented bankable projects and successful pilots, challenges remain in terms of scale and replicability. To advance sector modernization and service outcomes, incentive mechanisms can be further refined to shift the focus from merely creating infrastructure to delivering customer-oriented services. The Knowledge Framework concludes with a roadmap for states and cities to “raise the bar” through a series of strategic policy, institutional, investment, and financing shifts that will support bankable projects and accelerate service improvements.
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“World Bank; Asian Development Bank (ADB). 2025. Water and Sanitation in Indian Cities: Knowledge Framework for Promoting Sustainable and Bankable Water Supply, Sanitation, and Solid Waste Management. © World Bank and Asian Development Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/44073 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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