Sustainable water service delivery and management approach in rural Bangladesh

Abstract

Provide Sustainability of rural water supply all over the developing world is in a stake. Most of the water supply services are provided by Government organization through community management approach which proves unsustainable for long term. Government of Bangladesh completed a pilot project funded by the World Bank adopting an innovative approach of engaging private sponsors in planning, implementing and operating of their schemes commercially. 21 schemes has been implemented in rural villages of the country, which provides various level of services such as, multi tap connection, single tap connection, shared tap or stand post connection. Schemes implemented through the partnership approach among private entity and government agency in which 70% of the scheme capital cost borne by Govt. through project and remaining 30% by the community and private sponsor jointly. Private sponsors have to recover their investment through collecting monthly tariff from the connection holders within their 20 years operation period. Initial operation information shows most of the schemes have been achieved the targeted connection within very short period of operation. Revenue collected from the connection holders is able to meet the operational expenses which are the most critical sustainability factor for financially viable scheme. In depth investigation of the schemes will disclose the key success factors which led this model as a promising sustainable model for rural piped water supply in rural Bangladesh.