Toolkit for public-private partnerships in urban water supply for the state of Maharashtra, India

Several challenges in service delivery confront municipal water supply in India. This is driven by a number of issues, including rising demand due to larger and denser urban populations. The levels of investment in the water sector are lagging the required demands; coupled with inefficiencies and institutional issues, these will likely impact unsustainable exploitation of water resources. International experience suggests that public–private partnerships (PPPs) can meet these challenges in the sector, both through investments and particularly through efficiencies in performance parameters. Under the joint initiative of the Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), “Mainstreaming PPPs in India,” ADB supports state PPP cells in several challenging sectors in state-specific activities to arrive at possible PPP structures. In Maharashtra, ADB supported the Department of Urban Development and Water Supply and Sanitation to develop possible PPP structures in the water supply and sanitation sector. After studying possible PPP structures, their applicability in the context of selected sample cities were assessed leading to the development of proposed term sheets, which were identified as suitable and feasible for implementation. This tool kit is expected to assist the relevant public entities in Maharashtra state for developing PPP-based projects in water supply and sanitation, and may also be used as reference by similar other cities across the country. [authors abstract]