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Water utilities in Africa : case studies of transformation and market access

It is widely acknowledged that achievement of the urban Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) millennium development targets will require better access by utilities in Africa to finance, in particular from domestic financial markets. In many African countries, utility reform has focused on creating autonomous governance structures to improve service delivery to an expanding customer base. However, implementation of reforms has, to date, been uneven, constrained by the absence of appropriate incentives to reform, and hampered by limited access to capital investment funding. In some countries, for example, South Africa, Senegal, and Namibia, utilities have successfully sourced capital investment from domestic financial markets. Others, including utilities in Kenya, Uganda, and Tunisia, regularly access commercial finance for working capital or minor investments. The workshop focused on two financing challenges: to mobilize additional funding resources for development of the water sector; and to ensure that investment results in sustainable service delivery. Case studies of six water utilities were presented at the workshop as well as a survey assessing the readiness of fourteen utilities (including the six case study utilities) to tap into domestic financial markets. This report will set out a summary of the case studies, then go on to discuss the qualities and attributes that signal readiness to access commercial finance. The report is accompanied by a summary and an overview of the workshop summarizing all of the key outputs.