Publication: Best Practice in Urban Water Supply Côte d'Ivoire's SODECI - Capacity-building for Better Service
Loading...
Published
1997-06
ISSN
Date
2012-08-13
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
SODECI (La Societe de Distribution d'eau de Cote d'Ivoire) is the Cote d'Ivoire's water supply agency. It has provided over 30 years of service in water supply starting with a lease contract which lasted for approximately 25 years. This was converted into a concession in 1987. The World Bank has been working in partnership with the agency through financing of investments in water supply. The agency's approach to management has been key to its success. Decentralization and delegation of power to a range of different departments for the management of various tasks constitutes effective management.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 1997. Best Practice in Urban Water Supply Côte d'Ivoire's SODECI - Capacity-building for Better Service. Africa Region Findings & Good Practice Infobriefs; No. 17. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9931 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Reforming Water Supply in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire : Mild Reform in a Turbulent Environment(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-06)Compared with other urban water systems in West Africa, the water supply system in Abidjan performs very well. Documenting the recent history of that system, the authors try to answer three questions: What motivated reform in a system that was already performing well? How and why did the reform affect sector performance, and what additional changes might improve performance further? And what explains the relatively strong performance of Abidjan's water system? Is the success attributable primarily to an efficient contractual arrangement or more generally to Cote d'Ivoire's institutional environment? In a region plagued by political instability, Ivorian political institutions were remarkably stable for close to 40 years. In part, the success of the Ivorian model is the result of these institutions' stability and credibility. The single-party system in place at the time of reform might suggest that there were few restraints in place to prevent the government from behaving opportunistically. But several features of the institutional environment protected against such opportunism. Because of this, and because reform was based on a system already performing well, the contractual arrangement with a private operator proved exceptionally capable of adjusting even in the face of dramatic changes in the external environment. Institutional environments are not as favorable in other countries in the region, so similar contractual arrangements might be less successful elsewhere. Reform in Cote d'Ivoire was motivated primarily by a macroeconomic crisis, which reduced the resources available for public investment. Without either a sector crisis or a realignment of political forces, the will for reform was weak. Consequently, opportunities for improvement were missed and some problems remain. Among other ways in which the system could be improved: Splitting the water system into autonomous subsystems in different cities, and allowing bidding for investment contracts, would increase the chances of competition for investment, which does not currently exist.Publication India - Improving Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Services : Lessons from Business Plans for Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana and International Good Practices(Washington, DC, 2012-07)The purpose of this report is to distill lessons learnt for improving Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) services in India, by reference to the recent WSS business plans prepared for the three states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana and from various studies carried out by the World Bank on international good practices in urban water service delivery. The report culls out the core elements of the WSS reform program and proposes how such reforms might be implemented. The intended audience for this report is policy makers at the national and state levels, sector professionals and practitioners. The report identifies the key elements of a state-wide program for improving WSS services and accountability on the basis of the following three pillars: i) policies and institutions: appropriate policies and institutional arrangements that clarify the roles and responsibilities of key actors, and which create service providers that are efficient, accountable and customer focused with sufficient autonomy to manage their affairs in a professional manner; ii) infrastructure and financing: medium term infrastructure development program with appropriate financial frameworks that encourage service providers to rely increasingly on user fees and, later on, loans as their main sources of financing. Any subsidies within that framework should be provided in a targeted and transparent manner to support government policies; and iii) capacity building for professional services: ensuring well trained, knowledgeable and motivated staff to deliver the services in a high quality manner. To put the sector in context, the report begins by summarizing the results of various international studies undertaken over the last several years by the World Bank to better understand the makings of well run public WSS companies. These findings point towards the need to establish sectors which encourage the development of autonomous, accountable and customer oriented service providers. Within that framework the report provides suggestions on practical steps that can be taken by governments and service providers.Publication Do State Holding Companies Facilitate Private Participation in the Water Sector? Evidence from Cote d'Ivoire, the Gambia, Guinea, and Senegal(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-12)When the Gambia, Guinea, and Senegal decided to involve the private sector in the provision of water services, they also established state holding companies - state-owned entities with exclusive or partial responsibilities for: a) owning infrastructure assets; b) planning and financing investments (replacing assets and expanding networks); c) regulating the activities of the private sector; and d) promoting public acceptance of private participation in the sector. In Cote d'Ivoire, by contrast, when private participation was introduced (in 1960), no state holding company was established. To determine whether state holding companies help private participation in the water sector succeed, the author reviews the four functions these entities are expected to perform in the Gambia, Guinea, and Senegal. In light of experience in all four countries, he examines whether, and under what circumstances, state holding companies might be the entities best suited for carrying out such functions. He concludes that creating a state holding company is often not the best solution. A state holding company might be better suited than other entities for planning and financing investments when (and only when): a) investment responsibilities cannot be transferred to the private operator; b) tariffs are insufficient, at least for a time, to cover investment needs, so it is crucial that a public entity has access to other sources of finance; and c) the holding company's financial strength and accountability, or its incentives and ability to promote the gradual adoption of cost-covering tariffs, are superior to those of a ministerial department. When one or more of these conditions are not met, the main investment responsibilities should be transferred to the private operator or, if that is not possible, left to the government itself. The other three functions should not, as a general rule, be performed by a state holding company.Publication Partnering for Water in Cote d'Ivoire : Lessons from 50 Years of Successful Private Operation(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-08)The public-private partnership (PPP) for the national water utility of Cote d'Ivoire is the oldest and largest water PPP in the developing world. In place since 1960 and today serving more than 7 million people, this PPP has provided quality service for decades and made remarkable progress in expanding access in the 1990s. It even proved resilient to civil strife and the de facto partition of the country in 2002. This African success story shows that a pragmatic partnership between a committed government and an efficient private operator can produce tangible and sustained benefits for the population.Publication The Welfare Effects of Private Sector Participation in Guinea's Urban Water Supply(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-06)In 1989 the government of Guinea enacted far-reaching reform of its water sector, which had been dominated by a poorly run public agency. The government signed a lease contract for operations and maintenance with a private operator, making a separate public enterprise responsible for ownership of assets and investment. Although based on a successful model that had operated in Cote d'Ivoire for nearly 30 years, the reform had many highly innovative features. It is being transplanted to several other developing countries, so the authors evaluate its successes and failures in the early years of reform. They present standard performance measures and results from a cost-benefit analysis to assess reform's net effect on various stakeholders in the sector. They conclude that, compared with what might have been expected under continued public ownership, reform benefited consumers, the government, and, to a lesser extent, the foreign owners or the private operator. Most sector performance indicators improved, but some problems remain. The three most troublesome areas are water that is unaccounted for (there are many illegal connections and the quality of infrastructure is poor), poor collection rates, and high prices. The weak institutional environment makes it difficult to improve collection rates, but the government could take some steps to correct the problem. To begin with, it could pay its own bills on time. Also, the legislature could authorize the collection of unpaid bills from private individuals.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication 1 World Manga : Passage 1. Poverty - A Ray of Light(San Francisco: VIZ Media and World Bank, 2006)The first World Manga series offers a premise where the hero must grapple with social problems of a global magnitude that are set in the real world. Fifteen year-old orphan Rei survives by his wits and guts on the mean streets of the world. His fortunes take a strange turn when he meets a trainer wielding some powerful transformational magic who offers to coach him to achieve his dream of becoming the greatest marital artist in the world! But it seems Rei's trainer is more interested in developing his mind, spirit and ugh! Heart than his thrashing, raging, and fighting moves! The stakes get higher when Rei meets a young woman fighting just to survive! Can Rei meets vanquish the specter of poverty? This publication includes some of the following headings: poverty - a ray of light; HIV/AIDS - first love; child soldiers of boys and men; global warming - the lagoon of the vanishing fish; girl's education - life lessons; corruption - broken trust; and interview with the author of the first World Bank Manga (passage one to passage six).Publication Regional Poverty and Inequality Update: Latin America and the Caribbean, October 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-10-23)This brief summarizes recent facts related to poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) using the latest wave of harmonized household surveys from the Socio-Economic Database for LAC (SEDLAC). This brief was produced by the Poverty Global Practice in the LAC Region of the World Bank.Publication Antidumping Mechanisms and Safeguards in Peru(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-07)Peru's experience in the application of antidumping and safeguard measures is characterized by a radical change in the philosophy and procedures of trade at the beginning of the 1990s, and by an increasing use of these mechanisms. Trade liberalization was accompanied by the liberalization of foreign currency transactions and of financial and labor markets. Also, the internal revenue administration was modernized, institutions for regulation and competition defense were created, and state enterprises were transferred to private owners or concessionaires. New laws and institutions were created to regulate markets, including INDECOPI, a novel government agency charged with antimonopoly regulation and consumer defense, and which houses the Antidumping and Subsidies Commission. This highly autonomous and technical Commission became the central player in the implementation of WTO rules and procedures for fair trade. Since the reform was launched, a total of 81 trade protection cases have been presented, of which 57 were followed by a dumping investigation. The application of antidumping duties was approved for 29 of the cases investigated. Only two cases of safeguard investigations were recorded, one of which (Chinese textile clothing articles) is still in the negotiation phase. This paper reviews that case experience in detail, concluding that Peru has clearly differentiated between unfair competition and dumping on the one hand, and damage and safeguards on the other, and has applied strict technical criteria to the former and broader political considerations to the latter. Despite recent indications of a partial retreat from those principles, the decade-old reform is expected to last.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Thailand Monthly Economic Monitor, October 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-10-22)Fiscal conditions remained stable, with a modest widening of the deficit to 3.1 percent of GDP. New stimulus measures are expected to support short-term demand without breaching the public debt ceiling. Inflation stayed negative, reflecting lower energy and food prices amid subdued domestic demand. The central bank kept the policy rate unchanged, citing limited policy space. Thailand’s growth momentum has slowed further as manufacturing activity and services weakened as projected. Tourism remained subdued, largely due to fewer Chinese visitors. Goods exports also slowed as earlier front-loaded orders faded, particularly in agriculture and industrial goods. The Thai baht depreciated in early October as the US dollar appreciated and the current account turned negative.