Colombia - Expanding Services to Low-Income Areas Comparing Private and Public Water Utilities
Colombia is one of the most active Latin American countries in incorporating private sector participation (PSP) in managing water utilities. One of the community's main concerns is that reforms that treat water and sanitation services as an ec...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/05/2542811/colombia-expanding-services-low-income-areas-comparing-private-public-water-utilities http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10387 |
| Summary: | Colombia is one of the most active Latin
American countries in incorporating private sector
participation (PSP) in managing water utilities. One of the
community's main concerns is that reforms that treat
water and sanitation services as an economic asset rather
than as a social good and that allow providers to apply
commercial (profit-oriented) criteria, may tend to restrict
access to the services for low-income users, because they
are not perceived as attractive business clients by private
entrepreneurs. The government is embarking on a water sector
modernization program whose strategy is to promote PSP in
water utilities. One of its objectives is to expand and
improve the provision of services to the poor, so it was
considered necessary to find out if the common perception of
the population and the concern of the community that the
private sector focuses on providing good services to the
wealthy and neglects the poor, is anchored in reality and
consistent with the performance of privatized utilities in
Colombia. A study was carried out during project preparation
to test this perception against actual experience. |
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