Commercialization process of water supplies and sanitation services in Kenyan urban areas: a case study of Nyeri Municipal Council

Abstract

The International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade 1981-1990 (IDWSSD) had the objective of providing safe and adequate drinking-water and appropriate sanitation for as many people as possible (WHO, 1994). The decade stimulated governments, communities and external support agencies to release resources for development of water supplies and sanitation. In Kenya, the government through various policy papers and development plans expressed its commitment to improve these services by decentralizing and running the facilities on commercial basis. Such development is acknowledged as essential for the good health on which personal well being and national productivity and wealth depend. For these benefits to be fully realized, the water and sanitation facilities provided must function continuously, effectively and to their full capacity . Poor management coupled with inadequate operation and maintenance has led to more than half the water supply being unaccounted for in many towns in the republic. In parts of these towns served. by public supplies, wastage is high and the tariffs are fixed arbitrarily without consideration of costs. By contrast, residents of fringe areas remain largely unserved by public supplies and forced to pay the market price for insufficient and unsafe water from private vendors. The price is often 10 to 20 times higher than that charged to users connected to the public water supplies. Commercialization of water supplies and sanitation services, was initiated by the Kenyan government in 1986 by producing" a Sessional Paper that stipulated the necessary measures to achieve these objectives and in1987, the required institutional set-up were established through the assistance of donor agencies like GTZ. For over ten years, none of the towns in Kenya have been able to run water supplies and sanitation services on full commercial basis. The process of commercialization of water supplies and sanitation services in Kenya has been done in various ways. In general, it begins with the central government decentralizing or relinquishing the supply and provision of these services to the local authorities which are in return, expected to operate the facilities like any service industry to earn revenue and self sustain the services. At its worst, the local authority should break- even but the main objective is to make profits. The pnmary objective of this research project was to identify the key factors in commercialization process and to find out what need to be done in light of the key limiting factors to minimize the implementation period. The other objective was document to commercialization model adopted by Nyeri Municipal Council and giving recommendations on how best the model could be improved to shorten the process of implementing commercialization concept and making commercialization of water and sanitation more effective than it has been before. In chapter one, the introduction and the background of commercialization process in Kenya has been discussed. The research problem and objectives of the study are also stated in this chapter. Chapter two reviews the literature on commercialization of water and sanitation in general and specifically in Kenya. Various issues on commercialization which includes alternative administrative options, management and, proposed commercialization has been discussed. Chapter three has research design, consisting the definition of the research population, the sample selection and the data collection instruments used in the study as well the method of data analysis that was used. In analysis, descriptive and content analysis were used to address objective one of the study while factor analysis was used to determine critical factors in commercialization which was the objective two of the study. In Chapter four, the data collected was analyzed with the aim of achieving the objectives of the study stated in chapter one. The Nyeri Water and Sewerage Company model of commercialization is documented detailing various administrative and managerial aspects involved in developing the model. On identification of the critical factors in commercialization, six major factors were identified. These factors are community awareness and participation; political and town's chief officers interference; strategic management and administrative functions; operation and maintenance; capital investment and drinking water resources; and human resource management. Chapter five has the conclusion, summaries and recommendations drawn form the study. Further topics of research related to this area of study are also suggested in this chapter.