This report provides a direct calculation of the cost of meeting the Johannesburg targets for water supply and sanitation and a comparison with published data.
| Title | The cost of meeting the Johannesburg targets for drinking water : a review of various estimates and a discussion of the feasibility of burden sharing |
| Publication Type | Miscellaneous |
| Year of Publication | 2003 |
| Authors | Smets, H |
| Pagination | 108 p. : 7 boxes, 20 fig., 25 tab. |
| Date Published | 2003-10-01 |
| Publisher | Academie de l'Eau |
| Place Published | Nanterre, France |
| Keywords | development aid, financing, france, international level, investment, objectives, policies, safe water supply, sanitation, sdipol, sub-saharan africa |
| Abstract | This report provides a direct calculation of the cost of meeting the Johannesburg targets for water supply and sanitation and a comparison with published data. It concludes that an additional investment of $10 billion per year is needed to serve the unserved and that development aid for water should at least be doubled. Thus aid for water should be increased by at least $3.4 billion per year. Such an investment programme for providing water supply and sanitation to the unserved can realistically be achieved because the cost of the necessary additional investment is not too far from current investment. If additional investment was very much larger, a number of parties would refuse to bear higher costs and there would be a financial gap which would prevent the Johannesburg targets to be reached in time. The success in achieving the targets for water set in Johannesburg will depend on the extent of solidarity between the rich and the poor in developing countries and on the extent of solidarity between developed and developing countries. It remains to be seen whether solidarity for water will be implemented to a sufficient extent. Special attention is paid to the case of sub-Saharan Africa and it is concluded that aid for water in this area should be tripled because of the greater needs and the smaller financial means available. This would mean providing grants of at least $1.2 billion per year in addition to current aid for water ($0.6 billion per year). While such a transfer from industrialized countries is achievable, it might not occur because the financial commitments made so far are not sufficient.
The contribution of French development aid policy to the water sector during recent years is analyzed from an international viewpoint. It is found that it should be strengthened in order to facilitate access to water in least developed countries. Various policy proposals are presented. |
| Notes | Includes references |
| Custom 1 | 202.8, 302.8 |
