The Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) in South India was a public-private partnership (PPP) that ran from 1999 till 2004 at the direction of the Chief Minister of Karnataka. The purpose of the taskforce was to bring in business and civic leaders on a pro-bono basis to design a development agenda for the city and suggest ways in which the city's infrastructure and service delivery might be upgraded and improved according to best practice systems elsewhere. The purpose of the taskforce was to build government capacity through partnership between citizens, corporates and the city's main administrative agencies – the BMP, BDA, BMTC, BWSSB, BESCOM, BSNL, and Bangalore Police. The BATF was a particularly influential task force, transcending an 'advisory role' to mobilise private resources and catalyze significant changes in the agencies with which it engaged.
Drinking water supply and sanitation in Ecuador is characterized by a number of achievements and challenges. One key achievement is a significant increase in both access to an at least basic water source and at least basic sanitation. Significant increases in coverage in urban areas were achieved both by the public utility EMAAP-Q, serving the capital Quito, and the private concessionaire Interagua in the country's largest city Guayaquil. However, municipalities rely overwhelmingly upon central government investment, rather than recouping the costs at a local level. Another problem is intermittent water supply, which affects half of the urban areas. Also, only 8% of all collected wastewater is being treated. The level of non-revenue water is estimated at 65%, one of the highest in Latin America. Addressing these challenges is complicated by the atomization of the sector: A multitude of stakeholders – the Ministry of Housing, the Emergency Social Investment Fund, the Solidarity Fund, the State Bank, NGOs, municipalities and others – intervene in the sector. Despite the existence of an Interinstitutional Committee for Water and Sanitation there remains room to improve coordination.
Water supply and sanitation in Indonesia is characterized by poor levels of access and service quality. Almost 30 million people lack access to an improved water source and more than 70 million of the country's 264 million population has no access to improved sanitation. Only about 2% of people have access to sewerage in urban areas; this is one of the lowest in the world among middle-income countries. Water pollution is widespread on Bali and Java. Women in Jakarta report spending US$11 per month on boiling water, implying a significant burden for the poor.
India faces challenges ranging from sourcing water for its megacities to its distribution network which is largely intermittent with continuous distribution networks just beginning to emerge. Non-revenue water is a challenge.
Water supply and sanitation in China is undergoing a massive transition while facing numerous challenges such as rapid urbanization, increasing economic inequality, and the supply of water to rural areas. Water scarcity and pollution also impact access to water.
Water supply and sanitation in Yemen is characterized by many challenges as well as some achievements. A key challenge is severe water scarcity, especially in the Highlands, prompting The Times of London to write "Yemen could become the first nation to run out of water". A second key challenge is a high level of poverty, making it very difficult to recover the costs of service provision. Access to water supply sanitation in Yemen is as low or even lower than that in many sub-Saharan African countries. Yemen is both the poorest country and the most water-scarce country in the Arab world. Third, the capacity of sector institutions to plan, build, operate and maintain infrastructure remains limited. Last but not least the security situation makes it even more difficult to improve or even maintain existing levels of service.
Water supply and sanitation in Rwanda is characterized by a clear government policy and significant donor support. In response to poor sustainability of rural water systems and poor service quality, in 2002 local government in the Northern Byumba Province contracted out service provision to the local private sector in a form of public–private partnership. Support for public-private partnerships became a government policy in 2004 and locally initiated public-private partnerships spread rapidly, covering 25% of rural water systems as of 2007.
Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy (www.janaagraha.org) is a non-profit trust, working towards the mission of transforming the quality of life in India’s cities and towns. Founded in 2001 by Ramesh Ramanathan and Swati Ramanathan, it started as a movement to include people’s participation in public governance and has now evolved into a robust institution for citizenship and democracy. The core idea of Janaagraha’s work does not revolve around fixing problems but instead seeking to fix the system that can solve the problems. To achieve this objective, Janaagraha works with citizens to catalyse active citizenship in city neighbourhoods and with governments to institute reforms to city governance.
Water supply and sanitation in Zambia is characterized by achievements and challenges. Among the achievements are the creation of regional commercial utilities for urban areas to replace fragmented service provision by local governments; the establishment of a regulatory agency that has substantially improved the availability of information on service provision in urban areas; the establishment of a devolution trust fund to focus donor support on poor peri-urban areas; and an increase in the access to water supply in rural areas.
Kerala is a state on the southwestern coast of India. It is known for its high literacy rate, low infant mortality rate, and long life expectancy. Kerala has also been a pioneer in the field of decentralization and participatory local democracy.
Local government in India refers to governmental jurisdictions below the level of the state. Local self-government means that residents in towns, villages and rural settlements are the people elect local councils and their heads authorising them to solve the important issues. India is a federal republic with three spheres of government: central, state and local. The 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments give recognition and protection to local governments and in addition each state has its own local government legislation. Since 1992, local government in India takes place in two very distinct forms. Urban localities, covered in the 74th amendment to the Constitution, have Nagar Palika but derive their powers from the individual state governments, while the powers of rural localities have been formalized under the panchayati raj system, under the 73rd amendment to the Constitution.
Water supply and sanitation in Tanzania is characterised by: decreasing access to at least basic water sources in the 2000s, steady access to some form of sanitation, intermittent water supply and generally low quality of service. Many utilities are barely able to cover their operation and maintenance costs through revenues due to low tariffs and poor efficiency. There are significant regional differences and the best performing utilities are Arusha and Tanga.
Water supply and sanitation in Kenya is characterised by low levels of access to water and sanitation, in particular in urban slums and in rural areas, as well as poor service quality in the form of intermittent water supply. Seasonal and regional water scarcity in Kenya exacerbates the difficulty to improve water supply.
Water supply and sanitation in Burkina Faso are characterized by high access to water supply in urban areas, while access to an at least basic water sources in rural areas – where three quarters of the population live – remains relatively low. An estimated one third of water facilities in rural areas are out of service because of a lack of maintenance. Access to at least basic sanitation lags significantly behind access to water supply.
The Pooled Finance Development Fund Scheme (PFDF) has been set up by the Central Government of India. The main aim of the Government authorities is to provide credit enhancement facilities to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) based on their credit worthiness. This will enable them to access market borrowings through state-level pooled mechanism. PFDF is to ensure availability of resources to Urban Local Bodies in order to improve urban infrastructure and ultimately attain the goal of self-sustainability.
Jaipur City Transport Services Limited (JCTSL) is a city bus service for Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan state in India. It is operated by RSRTC. The system has been running from many years, but was heavily modified in 2007. RSRTC extended travelling facility to the colonies and sub-urban towns in and around Jaipur. Regardless of the heavy financial loss on the system, RSRTC has been operating about 300 city buses per day. For late night passengers, selected city night service buses connecting to the local railway station and the Bus Stand have also been operated by RSRTC. Recently it also inaugurated its HOP-ON HOP-OFF service for attracting foreign tourists. The process of development and expansion of the system to the commuters is a regular process in RSRTC and RSRTC is expediting its responsibility. For declaring its public responsibility, Jaipur City Transport Services has been published for better transparency and accountability.
The Government of India has initiated several National Missions in order to achieve individual goals that together ensure the wellbeing of its citizens.
Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) is a local government for Lucknow, the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration in the city of Lucknow, in short it is also known as LMC.
Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation is the local civic body responsible for the administration of Gandhinagar, the capital of the Indian state of Gujarat. It was set up in 2010. Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation has 326 sq km area.
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission was renamed to Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and then relaunched by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in June 2015 with the focus to establish infrastructure that could ensure adequate robust sewage networks and water supply for urban transformation by implementing urban revival projects. Rajasthan was the first state in the country to submit State Annual Action Plan under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). The scheme Housing for All by 2022 and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) were launched on the same day. The scheme is dependent with public–private partnership(PPP) model. If required, various other schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission, Housing for All 2022, along with the local state schemes like that related to water supply and sewerage and other infrastructure related schemes can be linked to AMRUT.
