Publication: Economic Regulation of Urban Water and Sanitation Services : Some Practical Lessons
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2007-04
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2007-04
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This paper discusses the regulation of water and sanitation services in urban areas. Specifically, it explores ways of thinking about regulatory design as part of a wider, country-specific program to reform the way in which water supply and sanitation services are provided and paid for. In the past, regulatory advisers often focused on the need to introduce international best practice- generally in the form of an independent regulatory organization-to solve a wide range of performance problems. However, this approach was seldom straightforward, nor was it always successful. There is no one-size-fits-all regulatory design that can be reliably applied to resolve performance problems. Rather, regulation is best developed on a country-by-country basis through answering questions such as the following: a) What are the real sector problems, and which of these can regulation solve? b) What specific objectives is regulation aiming to achieve? c) What combination of organizations and instruments is most suitable and would work best for achieving these regulatory objectives? This paper is not intended to be a detailed guide for regulatory design. Rather, it discusses how to approach regulatory design. This approach encourages decision makers and their advisors to apply sound principles within country-specific settings, rather than advocate best-practice models without a thorough analysis of whether these are suitable for the country's context. The best combination of rules and institutions for setting tariffs and service standards3,-and indeed, the best reform options in general-will vary from country to country. Regulatory designers should select this combination by first focusing on the principal sector objectives and working with institutions that may already be responsible for achieving them.
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“Ehrhardt, David; Groom, Eric; Halpern, Jonathan; O'Connor, Seini. 2007. Economic Regulation of Urban Water and Sanitation Services : Some Practical Lessons. Water Sector Board discussion paper series;no. 9. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17239 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Explanatory Notes on Key Topics in the Regulation of Water and Sanitation Services(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-06)The Explanatory Notes on Key Topics in the Regulation of Water and Sanitation Services provide a consistent set of principles and practices that respond to these questions. Such information will be of interest to service providers, policy makers, and development practitioners interested in improving the performance of WSS services in urban areas. The notes draw upon current regulatory thinking and research, but are intended to be accessible to those who are not regulatory experts. These are the first outputs of a program of work on regulation in the water supply and sanitation sector funded by the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF), the Bank-Netherlands Water Partnership (BNWP), and the World Bank. We will add additional notes as that work progresses. 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It reviews the spread of urban water PPP projects during the past 15 years, and assesses whether and how they have helped to improve services and expand access for the populations concerned. The study uses a structured framework to assess the performance of more than 65 large water PPP projects that have been in place for at least five years (three years in the case of management contracts) and that provide services to a combined population of almost 100 million. By population size, this sample represents close to 80 percent of the water PPP projects that were awarded before 2003 and have been active for at least three years. The analysis focuses on the actual impact of these projects for the concerned populations, that is, the net improvements achieved under these partnerships. Chapter two summarizes the historical development of water PPPs in developing countries, reviewing the current state of the market, the rate of contract cancellations, and the evolution of the industry. 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