Access to water in urban Africa is made difficult by high connection charges and tariffs, high technology standards, and uncoordinated and exclusive decision-making. Multi-sector partnerships between public, private, civil society and donor organisations could lead to greater access, efficiency and accountability. Independent operators (IOs) need more encouragement.

A report from Building Partnerships for Development in the UK and Hydroconseil in France assesses water supply services in Ghana, Mali and Mauritania. They evaluate the experience of IOs who provide a complementary or alternative water supply service to the dominant public or private operator. IOs provide a networked service from a private borehole, well or storage tank.

The IOs studied share many characteristics. Their networks may not be formalised but most have responded to the demand for water services in their locality. All have taken financial risks to establish their market share and shown their ability to build a customer base by offering a responsive and reliable service. They have lowered service costs and many have performed better than larger operators in implementing household connections, usually without subsidies.

In Ghana, small companies manage water services in small towns. Working on the basis of a contract signed with local communities, they have extended the network in several places. IOs in the Malian capital, Bamako, primarily operate in areas where the dominant operator, Energie du Mali, is absent.

In Mauritania more than 300 small companies have contracts with the government. They have greatly improved services offered to small town residents. While high technical standards discourage investors in other countries, providers in Mauritania have innovated in order to lower connection costs and found households willing and able to pay for these. Uniquely for West Africa, small Mauritanian companies provide household connections on a significant scale. They have shown that small businesses can profitably provide water to people who would otherwise not be served.

All the companies operate under several constraints:

• A few have made significant private investments, even though this is rarely protected by signed and enforceable contracts.
• Uncertainty about the availability, reliability and cost of water resources discourages expansion.
• Informality and lack of legal clarity make it hard to plan ahead. This constrains investment decisions and ultimately drives up prices.
• National policies that encourage IO participation are not necessarily passed on to lower levels of government.
• Many IOs are subject to arbitrary tariff setting, which rarely reflects the costs of the business they are in.

The authors suggest how the skills and energies of independent operators can be better used. Providers need to be encouraged to engage with government officials. Officials should introduce policies that strike a balance between support and regulation to bring providers into formal regulatory frameworks. Decision-makers should:

• recognise the diversity among water operators and perhaps encourage IOs to form associations)
• question the relevance of regulations developed for large operators in small towns and peri-urban areas
• allow new providers into the water supply market where a monopoly is proving unproductive, and give the major operator incentives to work with them
• change technical specifications to suit the contexts in which IOs work
• create an environment that gradually encourages IOs to formalise their activities
• give IOs legal protection of their assets and access to bank credit.

Source(s):
‘Access Through Innovation: Expanding Water Service Delivery Through Independent Network Providers: Considerations for Practitioners and Policymakers’, Building Partnerships for Development, by Bruno Valfrey-Visser, David Schaub-Jones, Bernard Collignon, November 2006

Funded by: Agence française de développement

id21 Research Highlight: 3 July 2007

Further Information:
David Schaub-Jones
Building Partnerships for Development in Water and Sanitation
2nd floor
47-49 Durham Street
London, SE11 5JD
UK

Tel: +44 (0)207 7934557
Fax: +44 (0)207 5820963
Contact the contributor: davidsj@bpdws.org

Building Partnerships for Development in Water and Sanitation (BPDWS)

Bruno Valfrey-Visser and Bernard Collignon
Hydroconseil
198, Chemin d’Avignon
84470 Chateauneuf de Gadagne
France

Tel: +33 490 225780
Fax: +33 490 225781

Hydroconseil, France

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