Who will foot the bill? Water services infrastructure backlog in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Investment in the water services infrastructure remains one of the major challenges that many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are facing. Current levels of investment in the sector, from both private and public sources, are only a quarter of the expenditure needed to meet the growing demand from the rapidly growing urban population as well as the positive economic growth experienced in the last decade. Contrary to the widely held view that private sector investment will meet the funding gap in the water and sanitation services (WSS) sector, available evidence shows that private sector investment in WSS infrastructure in SSA has been insignificant. Using recent data from various sources, this paper illustrates that the larger proportion of infrastructure investments from private investors have been going to sectors perceived to be less risky, with high profit and shorter pay-back period, mainly telecommunications (ICT). The bulk of funding to the WSS, in most countries has been coming from public resources, mainly government and bilateral donors. Given the prevailing socio-economic conditions in which most WSS utilities in Africa operate, the prospect of attracting private investment are very low. Consequently, infrastructure expenditure for WSS will continue to rely on public sources. Key words: Infrastructure, water and sanitation, Sub-Saharan Africa, private sector, public sector.