Serving all urban consumers : a marketing approach to water services in low and middle-income countries. Book 6. Sample strategic marketing plan for water services in Guntur, India

This study, conducted in 2001/02, is an attempt to develop a strategic marketing plan for Guntur Municipal Corporation which provides water for the Guntur (Guntor) city in India. Guntur is one of the five largest cities in Andhra Pradesh, and is an important education centre. The present population of the city is around 6 lakhs and the city attracts on an average 1.2 lakhs (120,000) people every day.
There is a growing demand for urban services, particularly for water supply, and the GMC is unable to meet this growing demand. Low water pressure is one of the main problems of the municipal water supply and most of the connections are fitted with hand pumps to counter the problem. Open wells or bore wells are major supplementary sources of water, but commonly have highly saline water, which is unsuitable for drinking. Given this scenario, it is necessary for the water utility to develop appropriate service options to improve delivery in a financial viable manner.
The overall objective of this study was to develop an effective and feasible strategic marketing plan for water services improvement, providing customer oriented service options on a financially viable basis in the context of GMC and Guntur City. The study is based on significant inputs from the field with respect to customer preferences, willingness to pay and institutional strengths and weaknesses. It focussed on understanding the nature of consumers, their current practices, needs and demands, but takes also in account innovative ideas and expertise of the service provider.