Philippines

Small water utilities with fewer than 5,000 connections comprise over 90 percent of the known network systems in urban areas in the Philippines. By developing their... Show More + capacity to improve their performance, they have more chances of being creditworthy and bankable so that they can finance investments for expansion and service improvements. The Small Water Utilities Improvement and Financing (SWIF) Project of the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) in the Philippines worked with 11 small water utilities to help them do strategic planning and prepare performance improvement plans and to prepare cost recovery tariffs as well as project proposals that can be submitted to a bank. They can easily reorganize their investment plans to suit available financing. This smart lesson shares lessons learned by the project team in helping these small water utilities become bankable, including making sure everyone gets training, ring-fencing the accounts of water operations, and helping close the gap between what utilities want and what banks want. Show Less -

Water districts local public corporations serving urban areas with a population of at least 20,000 people serve the largest portion of urban populations with house connections... Show More + of all providers in the Philippines. This field note looks into the experience of integration among municipalities and cities under a water district structure. Using data from 35 integrated and 109 nonintegrated water districts, the study confirms the potential advantage of increasing scale to the reduction of unit costs. However, the study notes that integrated water districts did not perform as well as nonintegrated water districts of the same size because of higher fixed costs and greater inefficiency. Show Less -

The Philippines has been unable to meet its growing demand for adequate water services. Indeed, the share of the population with access to water has fallen, particularly... Show More + among the poor, as a result of frequent political turnover, fragmented regulatory oversight, and lack of coordination among service providers. Many communities have struggled with governance issues caused by overlapping responsibilities among local, provincial, and national authorities for planning, financing, tariff setting, and sector oversight. Communities also have been unable to raise funds for the new connections needed to meet the rising consumer demand. One province, thanks to the political will of its governor, is exploring how best to respond to the issues of governance and unmet demand. After first dissolving the local Water District, the province is introducing an output-based aid approach to water supply under a concession contract. The private operator will be paid on the basis of performance, receiving a payment from the government for each connection made to a household preidentified as poor. Show Less -