Expanding Water and Sanitation Services to Low-Income Households : the Case of the La Paz-El Alto Concession

Bolivia is one of a growing number of developing countries turning to the private sector to improve urban water and sanitation services. The country's first major contract in the sector, a twenty-five-year concession for the neighboring cities...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Komives, Kristin, Brook Cowen, Penelope J.
Format: Viewpoint
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/1999/04/440882/expanding-water-sanitation-services-low-income-households-case-la-paz-el-alto-concession
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11484
Description
Summary:Bolivia is one of a growing number of developing countries turning to the private sector to improve urban water and sanitation services. The country's first major contract in the sector, a twenty-five-year concession for the neighboring cities of La Paz and El Alto, was implemented in August 1997. A primary objective in moving to a private concession was to expand services to low-income households while holding down costs by increasing efficiency. It is not a foregone conclusion that the new concessionaire will do a better job of expanding service; much will depend on how well the contract and sector regulation have been designed. Because the La Paz-El Alto concession was explicitly designed to expand service to the poor, this concession is a good case study for evaluating how different provisions in the contract and the sector regulation may help or hinder service expansion.