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.

India, Karnataka: communication campaign helps realise sustainable water supply in small towns

When three small towns in the state of Karnataka, India attempted to provide continuous water supply to their citizens through a public-private partnership, they faced disbelief even ridicule. A sustained and strategic communication campaign over several years finally enabled the Karnataka Urban Water Supply Improvement Project (KUWASIP) to succeed with people’s support. Now, the citizens of these three towns – Hubli-Dharwad, Gulbarga and Begaum – benefit from 24/7 water supply through the .

This best practice was produced as a short movie titled “Overcoming Resistance and Initiating Change through Communications” by the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) in partnership with the Administrative Staff College of India and is part of a training curriculum for city managers and policy-makers.

KUWASIP was jointly funded by the World Bank and the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC). In 2009, KUIDFC received a National Urban Water Award for the project in the category

Related web site: KUIDFC – Karnataka Urban Water Supply Improvement Project (KUWASIP)

India, Delhi: residents to pay for using sewers

The Delhi Jal Board (city water board) has approved levying sewerage development charges on those premises which do not have a DJB water connection, or have a cut-off connection, but discharge sewage into its sewer system.

The monthly levy will be in the range of 150 to 2,500 Indian rupees [US$ 3.30 to US$ 55] depending on the size of the premises.

Property owner who clear outstanding dues within the next three months would get a 20 percent rebate on sewerage development charges.

The board also decided to set up a ‘Sewer Gang’ force in every constituency to deal with blockages in sewer lines.

The board announced an amnesty scheme for regularisation of unauthorised water connections on payment of 500 India rupees (US$ 11) instead of the regular fee of 3,000 India rupees (US$ 66).

Officials said DJB charges sewer charges for three years to regularise an unauthorised connection but under the scheme fees for only six months will be levied.

The board also decided to extend a special scheme till March 31 [2011] under which a certain segment of consumers was given upto 70 per cent rebate on their outstanding dues last year.

The board also approved installation of multi jet meters on its major water pipelines.

The Board is calling in the private sector to privatise billing and meter installation, starting in South Delhi. In the new system, customers will be able to pay their bills online. Private parties will be responsible for installing new water meters and for maintenance of the meters for the coming five years.

Source: Indian Express, 14 Jan 2011

India, Haryana: US$ 28 million approved to tackle drinking water problems in Mahendragarh district

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has approved a INR 1.27 billion (US$ 28 million) project to tackle the drinking water problem in Mahendragarh district of Haryana state.

The project will supply water to 64 water-starved villages and 34 dhanies (clusters) at a rate of 60 litres per capita per day.

A Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) spokesperson said that drinking water supply facilities had been improved in 4,925 villages during the past six years. Free water connections had been given to 779,148 Scheduled Caste households in rural areas and 138,793 in urban areas under the Indira Gandhi Drinking Water Supply Scheme.

The Naandi Foundation has provided reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment plants in 100 villages in the districts of Mahendragarh, Jhajjar, Kaithal and Mewat under a public-private partnership (PPP) initiative with Tata Projects. Safe drinking water was being supplied at a rate of ten paise (0.22 US dollar cents) per litre.

Source: UNI, New Kerala, 14 Jan 2011

India, New Delhi: water tanker privatisation aims to curb corruption

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) [Delhi water board] has decided to privatise tanker management system to check water wastage and corruption in its own ranks. Four companies have shown interest and submitted technical proposals for the tenders issued by DJB. The contract would ensure a total revamp of the system and introduction of new technologies.

Officials say that this would help DJB monitor the movement of tankers to and from various delivery points. The project also proposes to put a check on water wastage due to leakages in tankers.

“There have also been complaints of our tankers supplying water to hotels and malls for extra money. With corruption prevailing within the department and in the absence of a monitoring system, it is difficult to say if the tankers even reach the destination,” a senior DJB official said.

The DJB’s decision to enter into a public-private partnership to revamp tanker management involves introduction of technological changes to tankers. These changes would include biometric identification for drivers, a GPS system to monitor the tanker movement, a flow meter to account for the amount of water taken and supplied, a chlorimeter to ensure the water quality and an auto lock system to put a check on leaking tankers.

The DJB is mandated to supply water tankers at 18,349 fixed delivery points in the city. Besides that, water tankers are also supplied to regular colonies in case of common emergencies like pipeline burst or shortage of raw water supply. The department owns 250 tankers and hires at least 600 private tankers on a daily basis to ensure supply to at least 1,600 unauthorised-regularised colonies.

Source: IBNS / newKerala.com, 07 Jun 2010

Pakistan: Safeguard and Save the Children join hands for school sanitation

Procter & Gamble’s Safeguard brand and Save the Children announced their new partnership to reach 100 primary schools in Pakistan through a school health and hygiene project. The project will benefit 40,000 school age children in Quetta, Karachi and Lahore with improved sanitation facilities and health and hygiene education.

Through this partnership, Safeguard and Save the Children aim to address the incidence of common illnesses arising from poor sanitation facilities in school children, and empower Pakistani children to adopt healthy habits through health education and improved access to handwashing, toilet and water supply facilities. The overall aim is to enable children and their families to adopt better health and hygiene habits in the long-term.

Safeguard appeals to Pakistani mothers to help improve the lives of less affluent children. Every bar of Safeguard bought from October 2009 to March 2010 will contribute towards building handwashing, toilet and water supply facilities in Pakistani schools where children do not have access today.

Speaking at the launch press conference, Chief Guest, Minister of Health, Sindh, Dr. Sagheer Ahmed stated, “Today, we are very proud that the private sector has stepped up and extended their full support to the critical issue of sanitation and hygiene, which will greatly help the cause of improving the health of Pakistan. According to estimates, water, sanitation and hygiene related diseases cost Pakistan’s economy about Rs 112 billion per year and over Rs 300 million a day in terms of health cost and lost earnings. Through this partnership, Safeguard and Save the Children have marked the critical importance of adopting healthy and hygienic habits through enabling access to improved sanitation facilities. We would like to thank the Safeguard and Save the Children teams for leading this initiative that has the potential to save millions of Pakistani lives.”

[...] Mubashara Khalid, the Brand Manager for Safeguard in Pakistan, also stated at the event: “Every day, 670,000 children miss school due to illnesses. According to the Karachi Soap Health Study (2002) led by the Center for Disease Control (USA), HOPE and P&G, regular handwashing with soap can reduce the incidence of diarrhea and common illnesses by up to 50 percent. [...] We will be building these facilities this year, and are committed to provide sustainable maintenance to these facilities for the years to come.”

Safeguard has empowered over 6 million children in more than 17,000 Pakistani schools through Sehat-o-Safai, the largest school health and hygiene awareness campaign in the country. To reinforce its commitment to health and hygiene, Safeguard is making this sustainable long term investment to improve the lives of Pakistani children and to instill the message of the importance of handwashing with soap. The Safeguard team will be educating 40,000 children through this partnership, and about 1.5 million children overall through the Sehat-o-Safai program this year.

Source: PR Log / 03 Nov 2009

Nepal: Bottlers Nepal, UN-HABITAT joins hands for rainwater harvesting

UN-HABITAT Water for Asian Cities programme and Bottlers Nepal Limited are set to install rainwater harvesting system in historical ponds located in Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts. The bid is believed to recharge sinking water aquifer caused by over-extraction of groundwater and climate change.

The two parties signed an agreement on June 5, 2009, to work together on rainwater harvesting [with] Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City (LSMC) and Kathmandu Valley Water Supply Management Board and [technical assistance from] the Centre for Integrated Urban Development (CIUD).

Dr. Roshan Raj Shrestha, chief technical advisor, UN-HABITAT Water for Asian Cities Programme, South Asia said [...] the initiative would conserve 40,000 kiloliters of rain water, besides encouraging communities to conserve water and protect its traditional sources.

Source: The Himalayan Times / NGO Forum, 07 Jun 2009

India: ADB to Help Attract Private Sector Participation in Infrastructure Projects

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is helping India develop infrastructure projects that can attract private sector investment through the modality of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).

The Japan Special Fund, through ADB, will provide a $2 million technical assistance grant to help government agencies in India develop a number of pilot PPP projects which can eventually serve as models for future projects. All infrastructure sectors covered under this initiative include urban development, transport, water, health and education sectors.

[...]

ADB’s technical assistance is complemented by the India Infrastructure Project Development Fund (IIPDF), a facility of the Government of India.

[...]

According to the Planning Commission of India, the current infrastructure deficit requires a massive ramp up in infrastructure spending to 8% of gross domestic product from the current 4.7% in order to meet India’s growth and poverty alleviation targets. India needs around $500 billion in infrastructure investment funds between 2007 and 2012 – an amount too large to be met by the public sector alone.

[...]

ADB has supported India’s plan to bring in more public-private partnerships through two advisory technical assistance grants. The Indian government will provide $5.7 million equivalent from its IIPDF on a project-by-project basis. The project sponsor agencies will contribute $500,000 to cover project-specific office facilities, administrative support, and workshop facilitation.

Source: ADB, 21 Oct 2008

Nepal, Hetuda: municipality earned Rs. 0.8 million from public toilets

Public toilets have been a good source of income for the municipality of Hetuda. [Income from] the public toilets operated by Aadarsha Tole Development Organization through a [public-]private partnership programme [has been shared equally between] the municipality and Tole Development Organization.

The organization had collected toilet fees worth Rs. 777,000 [EUR 7,300 = US$ 10,700) and made a profit worth Rs. 432,000 [EUR 4,100 = US$ 6,000] after deducting expenses.

Source: Gorkhapatra / NGO Forum, 12 Sep 2008