India, Bengaluru: the business of the honey-suckers

Indigenously developed honey sucker in Bengaluru (Bangalore), south India. Photo: Vishwanath Sankrathai

A new IRC paperexplores some contributions being made by honey-sucker tanker operators — that renders a small-scale sanitation service informally and within the private sector — on waste (faecal) extraction and, in some cases, reuse. Operating outside the legal framework of waste management, this paper provides preliminary insight into the limitations and potentials of the ‘honey-sucker business’ as a sanitation service model, based on selected experiences in Bengaluru (India).

India, Bengaluru: commercial productive use of faecal sludge

Waste is a resource in the wrong place. People who have no sewer connection do go to the toilet though urban authorities seem to think differently given the neglect of the multitude of sanitation self-service models that have emerged in many cities.

During a webinar, which was organised on 2 May 2012, Joep Verhagen of the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre presented the results of a case study, which investigates a model that is based on the productive use of faecal sludge by farmers in and around Bengaluru (Bangalore), the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. This particular service has emerged without any technical or financial support.

For more IRC webinars go to: www.irc.nl/page/69625

India: government funds for sanitation inadequate, private sector should pool in

A model where public funds provide the back-end and private funds provide the front-end can fill the gap in sanitation financing in India, writes Anupam Tyagi from the International Management Institute in the Economic Times of February 9th, 2012.

According to a recent  report by Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), the lack of adequate sanitation in India resulted in an annual loss of $53.8 billion ($161 billion in purchasing power parity, or PPP) or $48 per capita ($144 in PPP) in 2006, the year of evaluation in the report. This was equivalent to 6.4% of GDP in 2006.

Most of these losses were related to health (71.7%; $38.5 billion), and mostly concentrated in children below five years. Other quantified economic losses relate to getting access to cleaner drinking water, time losses from not having access to sanitation, and tourism-related losses.

Uzbekistan: US$ 60 million ADB loan to support water supply and sanitation

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Republic of Uzbekistan hace signed a US$ 60 million loan agreement to support the government’s efforts to strengthen the water supply and sanitation sector.

The loan, from ADB’s concessional Asian Development Fund, is the first tranche of a US$ 300 million multi tranche financing facility (MFF) – ADB’s first MFF investment program to Uzbekistan. The programme aims to improve the living standards, environment, and health of three million people in Uzbekistan.

Since 2000, ADB he provided US$ 193.1 million in loans and US$ 5.1 million in grants to the water supply and sanitation sector sector.

The loan will finance improvements to water source and distribution systems in Damkhodja and 11 district centres in Bukhara and Navoi provinces, as well as upgrade wastewater treatment plant and sewerage systems in the capital city of Surkhandarya province. The programme will also strengthen water supply and sanitation institutions and support capacity development. A performance-based service contract and lease contract will be piloted for service agencies to encourage more private investment in the sector. The loan will include programme preparation and management support to implement the loan and to prepare and design the remaining tranches under the investment program.

The total project costs are estimated at US$ 75 million. ADB will provide a US$ 60 million loan with repayment term of 32 years, including a grace period of eight years with an interest charge of 1% per year, rising to 1.5% for the balance of the term.

Source: ADB, 01 Dec 2009

ADB President Calls on Governments, Private Sector to Do More to Address Sanitation Issue

Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda has called for regional governments and the private sector to do more to help the 1.8 billion people in Asia who lack access to adequate sanitation. “There is urgency to this moment,” Mr. Kuroda said in opening remarks at the Sanitation Dialogue at ADB’s Manila Headquarters. He added that the issue of sanitation “poses enormous challenges to Asia’s environment and public health.”

[...] Mr. Kuroda stressed that sanitation, like water supply, cannot be sustained on government budgets alone and that more needs to be done to attract private sector investment. “Key to a change in strategy is the consideration of sanitation as a business,” Mr. Kuroda said. “The economic returns of good sanitation have been demonstrated universally and we must find clever ways of translating them into effective and sustainable solutions for Asia.”

ADB has committed 20% of its Water Financing Partnership Facility to sanitation, which will help provide 200 million people with sustainable access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation. Mr. Kuroda cited successful national sanitation initiatives in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam. [...] “Our annual average lending pipeline for sanitation has increased [...] to $710 million for 2008-2010,” Mr. Kuroda said, adding that as a proportion of ADB’s overall funding commitments, water and sanitation projects are expected to increase from an average of 8.5% in 2003-07 to about 17% in 2008-10.

Source: ADB,03 Mar 2009

ADB-DMC Sanitation Dialogue, 3-5 March 2009, Manila, Philippines

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is inviting developing member country (DMC) Ministers of Finance, Health, Water and Sanitation, Environment, and Water Resources or their senior executives and city mayors to the ADB-DMC Sanitation Dialogue to discuss DMC’s sanitation needs, barriers, options, and actions.

Themes:

• Economics of sanitation: (benefits and costs) covers public health and environmental issues, and impacts on other sectors, like tourism;
• Social issues: community psychology and sociology of sanitation;
• Technologies: practical, affordable options;
• Finance: financing sources and options, and financial viability of sanitation;
• Private sector participation: opportunities and business environment;
• Politics of sanitation: why and how to market sanitation and overcome political barriers.

See also the related background article “Getting Sanitation on Track” by Anand Chiplunkar (Feb 2009, ADB)

Read more on the ADB web site

ISARC24 International Conference on Water, Environment, Energy and Society, Firozabad, India, 28-30 June 2009

Conference of the Research Committee 24 on Environment and Society of the International Sociological Association (ISA-RC24), organised by S.R.K. (P.G.) College, Agra University.

Sub-Themes:

• Pollution of water bodies and sanitation
• Ecological, economic, and social dimensions
• Environment and energy
• Water for rural development
• Water and social health
• Private sector participation in water services
• Water politics, law, and public apathy
• Economics of water resources projects
• Climate change and water
• Disasters and water
• Ground water level and water management
• Water pollution and rivers

Abstract deadline: 31 May 2009

Contact:  Dr U.S.Pandey, Deptt.of Sociology, S.R.K. (P.G.) College Firozabad (U.P.) India-283203, Mob: 919412562191, Fax: 91 5612 233040,  E-Mail: us_pandey123 [at] yahoo.com,  website : http://www.environment-societyisa.org

Click Here for an invitation for the Conference.

Click Here for a registration form for the Conference.

International Conference on Water Resources Policy in South Asia, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 18-20 Dec 2008

This conference is organised by SaciWATERs as part of the regional capacity building project Crossing Boundaries. The conference will bring together regional and international water professionals, academics, policy makers, activists, politicians and others involved and interested in South Asian water resources issues. As part of the ongoing water resources policy dialogue, the conference aims to enhance the understanding of water resources governance, its management and use in the region by critically assessing the agenda for reform.

The conference will broadly deal with the following topics and themes:

• Sectoral assessment of policy processes/reforms
• Rent seeking behaviour in water management and infrastructure development
• Success, value and limitations of participatory processes in the water sector
• International and federal hydropolitics
• Inter-sectoral water allocations, negotiations and conflicts
• Gender dimensions of water governance and management
• Water management in the peri-urban areas
• Approaches to urban water provision and management
• Privatisation in the water sector
• Impact of global policy discourses on National Water Policy making
• Watershed management policies and programmes
• Water policy and climate change
• Dying wisdom or myth making: exploring the meaning and value of local water management practices
• Approaches to water policy analysis in South Asia
• Civil and political society in water management in South Asia
• Water rights and water rights reform in South Asia
• Private sector boom and public sector malaise in water resources development

For more information go to the conference web site.

Nepal, Kathamandu Valley: alternative modes of water supply to urban poor

“In a bid to ensure safe drinking water and sanitation for urban poor, Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) has sought help of stakeholders so as to manage community tap stands and other community managed water points in the [Kathmandu] Valley”.

KUKL, which has a Low Income Consumer Support Unit (LICSU), has called upon the private sector and interested partners to prepare proposals and implement alternative modes of water services for the large numbers of unconnected low-income consumers.

“During a consultation meeting on June 29, 2008 in the capital, officials of KUKL informed that beneficiary communities will manage the alternative modes of water services, which could be bottled water distribution and isolated water supply from shallow wells, stone spouts, etc, on a pilot project”.

Read more: Kathmandu Post / NGO Forum, 30 Jun 2008

The public taps installed by KUKL with the financial aid of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the landless squatters and slum dwellers in the valley two years ago are running dry, according to the NGO Forum for Urban Water & Sanitation.

The NGO Forum’s Executive Director, Prakash Amatya said that only 75 of the planned 250 public taps were installed for slum dwellers under a project. “The taps were installed in haste without connecting them with the main water pipes,” Amatya said.

Source: The Rising Nepal / NGO Forum, 17 Jul 2008

Public Toilets in Urban India: Doing Business Differently [publication]

Colin, J. and Nijssen, S. (2007). Public toilets in urban India : doing business differently. (Field note / WSP). New Delhi, India, Water and Sanitation Program – South Asia. 12 p. PDF file

Summary: Today, pay-and-use public toilets have become well established across India, most of them funded by municipalities and a large proportion operated by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or small contractors. These are often better maintained than standard municipal toilets and are consequently more popular with the public.

While NGO- and Community-Based Organization (CBO)-run toilet complexes are now quite common, much less has been done to develop the role of the private sector in financing, developing, and managing public toilet complexes. Recently, however, the city of Delhi has witnessed a new initiative that involves private entrepreneurs via Build, Operate, and Transfer (BOT) contracts. Some 60 public toilet blocks have been developed, and a novel feature of the contracts is that the operators are allowed to use the external walls of the premises as advertising space. This enables them to generate substantial revenues.

The results of this innovation have been mixed, but some contractors have provided an excellent service. This field note looks at both the achievements and challenges in the use of BOT contracts for public toilets in Delhi, and draws out some important lessons for meeting the sanitation needs of the city.