Innovative contracts ,Sound Relationship: Urban Water Sector Reform in Senegal (paper No.1 Jan. 2004

In 1995, Sinegal unsertook and groundbreking reform of its urban waters sector. The bankrupt public sektor utility that had managed water supply in urban areas since 1983 was disolved, and a new lsate asset holding company was created to manage the sector. The government put the management of water services out to international competitive bidding, and engaged a French water company to run the production and distribution systems on a 10 year contractual basis.
Seven year later, there have been significant improvements to urban waters delivery, and the financial health of the sector is stedily improving. The reform in the water sector in Sinegal hs had wide reaching effects, not only in Sinegal itself, but in other countries as well. The senegal case is percieved to be an example of well planned and well executed reform, which, unlike some of the other attempts at water sector reform of the same era, has stood the test of time.

This case study seeks to examine the reasons the reform was successful, and to look in detail at its components - institutional, contractual, and financial. The outcomes of the reform process are also examined, in particular how poor consummers have fared.

Post Date : 19 September 2006