Public Private Partnership in Water and Sanitation Sector

This workshop was organized by INWRDAM in cooperation with the Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Malaysia and was funded by the Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The main objective of this workshop is to provide a forum for a participatory discussion and exchange of experiences and needs on the PPPs in matters related to water and sanitation services. This gathering enabled INWRDAM to have the opportunity to play the role of "honest broker" through bringing together experience and know-how to many OIC countries in topics related to PPPs in water and sanitation services. More than twenty lectures and participants from nine OIC countries attended and benefited from this workshop. The justifications and the background information for implementing this activity is discussed in the next paragraphs.

Many public sector departments in OIC are faced with the challenge of the improvement of existing water and sanitation services, expanding coverage to periurban areas, and improving quality and standards of these services. It is not possible to keep allowing large loses in water conveyance lines, discharge untreated sewage to the environment and to supply almost free water and sanitation services. Some OIC countries successfully invested in the PPP that resulted in improved water supply and quality of services.

With the current severe water scarcity in many OIC countries, the public sector might not be able to cope with the challenges regarding water supply and sanitation services. The public sector cooperate with the private sector through a "Partnership". Public Private Partnerships ('PPPs') are partnerships between the public sector and the private sector for the purposes of designing, planning, financing, constructing and/or operating projects which would be regarded traditionally as falling within the remit of the public sector.

Making water and sanitation services accessible is one of the main targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is also the core responsibility of both national and local governments to satisfy the legitimate rights of all citizens and save guard the interests of the poor. In this regard, governments are increasingly seeking professional expertise through various forms of PPPs, which are expected to significantly contribute to achieving national objectives in affordable ways. However, successful PPPs require that all partners and stakeholders promote sustainable development through the formulation and implementation of specific and equitable policy measures.

A PPP can be viewed also as a means of delivering a service and not merely an asset enabling the service to be delivered. A key objective of a PPP is to allocate responsibility to the person best placed to manage and deal with the task. Certain responsibilities may be more effectively managed by the private sector rather than the public sector.

The private sector has always been involved in the water sector in some form or other, from tendering for construction contracts in large urban supplies to the informal provision of vended water in unserved areas. However, a new role is currently being shaped due to globalization.