Public service delivery in Bogotá: a success story?

Abstract

The poor in most cities in developing countries suffer from a lack of infrastructure and services. Those living in self-help settlements often bear the brunt of the problem: paying high prices to receive water from informal suppliers and facing major problems getting to work on public transport. By the general standards of cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, however, most poor people in Bogotá fare rather well. However, this was not always the case and the article describes how the city authorities, through a mixture of public and private enterprise, turned the servicing situation round. Today, the poor benefit from Bogotá’s virtually complete electricity, water and sewerage coverage. Of course, there are still problems: particularly in terms of affordability and, in the future, from the continued growth of the city beyond the current administrative border.