Abstract:
This case discusses the efforts by the state of Andhra Pradesh and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board to provide water services to its poorest inhabitants--approximately 1.7 million people. Undermining this challenge is the reality that Hyderabad is located in a comparatively dry region of India, and the Water Board is only able to provide water for an average of two hours per day. To attract investment, the government decides to privatize the Water Board, but the World Bank conditions its support for this privatization on Andhra Pradesh's ability to develop a program that will provide water to the city's slums.
Learning Objective:
Questions that can be discussed include: Will privatization provide improved water services to the poor? If not, what reforms can the government pursue that will increase low-income users access to drinking water? How might the government attract private investors to a water system with poor access to water resources, low tariffs, and poor management?