The Expansion of Domestic Private Sector Participation in the Water and Sanitation Market

The scope of the project included the determinants and constraints in the expansion of services provided by the domestic private sector (DPS) to the poor, looking at both business and market expansion issues. It involved the quantification of the opportunity costs of these constraints.

Description of Services Provided

• The development of a private sector that can deliver sustainable water services to the poor.

• The study was aimed at enabling such small and medium-sized business to extend services to the poor.

  • The team of consultants recommended options for supporting the increased scale of DPS services, including exploring how public-private partnerships can be undertaken in more programmatic ways for enhanced efficiency.

  • It also assessed the vision of the enterprise in relation to providing services at scale to low income households.

  • An analysis was conducted on the effects of these issues on their ability to expand their business. The assessment explored the risk tolerance/risk coping behaviors of the businesses.

  • It also identified where the poor are presently getting service, understand their costs, including basic coping costs, and assess the value proposition of these alternative sources of service to the poor.