Urban sewer planning in developing countries and "the neighborhood deal": a case study of Semarang, Indonesia

The feasibility study described in this report was conducted to test a contingent valuation methodology for assessing consumer demand for sewer services. In essence, households and neighborhood groups were offered different theoretical pricing arrangements for house connections and feeder sewer networks, and the results analyzed to determine the ?deal? preferred by each of the three sub-districts included in the study. While not a comprehensive assessment of willingness to pay for sanitation systems and services in Semarang, the data do provide some interesting and useful insights into consumer priorities for public and private investment in sanitation infrastructure. Although sanitation presents a more complicated mix of public and private responsibilities for households and communities than does drinking water supply, the study demonstrates that contingent valuation can be an effective approach for assessing demand for sanitation services.