A Presentation by the Urban & Water Thematic Group
Presenter: Fadel Ndaw, Senior Water Specialist, the World Bank.
Moderator: Ato Brown, former Sector Manager, Water Development, MENA Region, the World Bank.
Synopsis: Senegal offers an excellent example of successful public-private partnership (PPP) that currently serves 67 urban centers and a total population of more than seven million, half of it in Dakar. In 1996, Senegal engaged in a reform of its urban water supply and sanitation sector that resulted in: (i) the creation of the public water supply “asset holding company” SONES, responsible for developing the water supply infrastructure under a Concession agreement with the Government; (ii) the contracting out by SONES of technical and commercial operations of the water service to a locally incorporated private operator, with an international professional partner as majority shareholder, under an Affermage (lease) contract; and (iii) the establishment of a public sanitation agency ONAS.
Between 1996 and 2019 this arrangement resulted in: (i) an increase of water production capacity from 92 to 190 million m3/year; (ii) an extension of piped water to 98% of the population in the service area; (iii) a noticeable improvement of the quality of service to customers; and (iv) gradual recovery of operating and capital costs from the tariff collected from customers. The rebidding of the Affermage contract in 2020 resulted in a change of international professional shareholder and an increase of the share of the tariff devoted to infrastructure extension.
The presentation will discuss the various factors of success of the institutional and regulatory arrangements. It will also present the key challenges the sector is faced with regards to groundwater management, diversification of water sources and wastewater reuse for export-oriented agriculture activities of the Dakar region.
Fadel Ndaw played a key role implementing urban water and sanitation sector reforms and coordinating major projects in his home country of Senegal. Later, he worked for “Rand Water” in Johannesburg, South Africa as coordinator of an African water operators’ partnership. Fadel joined the World Bank in 2012 as senior water specialist in the Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Cairo (Egypt) and currently in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) offices. Fadel holds a master’s degree from the Water and Environmental Engineering School of the University of Strasbourg (France).
Ato Brown retired in 2019, after more than 25 years at the World Bank. In his last assignments, he was Country Manager for Kazakhstan (ECA), Country Manager for Sierra Leone (AFR), and Sector Manager for Water Development in the MENA region. Ato was part of World Bank teams that supported PPPs in the water and energy sectors in AFR and MENA regions. Ato is currently based in Ghana, his home country.
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