Description: Colombia - Expanding Services to Low-Income Areas Comparing Private and Public Water Utilities

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Colombia - Expanding Services to Low-Income Areas Comparing Private and Public Water Utilities

Colombia is one of the most active Latin American countries in incorporating private sector participation (PSP) in managing water utilities. One of the community's main concerns is that reforms that treat water and sanitation services as an ec...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Sotomayor, Maria Angelica
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:	LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES WATER UTILITIES WATER & SANITATION WATER SECTOR REFORM POOR COMMUNITIES SEWERAGE SERVICES METHODOLOGY SUBSIDY WATER SUPPLY ACCESS TO SAFE WATER ACCESS TO SEWERAGE CITIES CLEAN WATER COMMUNITIES CONTINUITY OF SERVICE COST OF WATER HOUSEHOLDS INCREMENTAL WATER INVESTMENT COSTS LARGE CITY LOW-INCOME POPULATION MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES MUNICIPALITIES NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS NUMBER OF WATER PRIVATE COMPANIES PRIVATE OPERATOR PRIVATE OPERATORS PRIVATE SECTOR OPERATORS PRIVATE UTILITIES PRIVATE UTILITY PUBLIC SERVICE PROVIDERS PUBLIC SERVICE PROVISION PUBLIC UTILITIES PUBLIC UTILITY PUBLIC WATER QUALITY WATER SANITATION SANITATION SECTOR SANITATION SERVICES SEWAGE DISPOSAL SEWERAGE SEWERAGE COMPANIES SEWERAGE CONNECTIONS SEWERAGE SERVICE SLUMS TOWNS URBAN AREAS USERS WATER SECTOR WATER SUPPLY WATER UTILITY
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/05/2542811/colombia-expanding-services-low-income-areas-comparing-private-public-water-utilities http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10387

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Summary:	Colombia is one of the most active Latin American countries in incorporating private sector participation (PSP) in managing water utilities. One of the community's main concerns is that reforms that treat water and sanitation services as an economic asset rather than as a social good and that allow providers to apply commercial (profit-oriented) criteria, may tend to restrict access to the services for low-income users, because they are not perceived as attractive business clients by private entrepreneurs. The government is embarking on a water sector modernization program whose strategy is to promote PSP in water utilities. One of its objectives is to expand and improve the provision of services to the poor, so it was considered necessary to find out if the common perception of the population and the concern of the community that the private sector focuses on providing good services to the wealthy and neglects the poor, is anchored in reality and consistent with the performance of privatized utilities in Colombia. A study was carried out during project preparation to test this perception against actual experience.