PPIAF

Water and sanitation projects with private participation attracted $2 billion in new commitments in 2006 - staying within the $1-2 billion for the range the last five years. The investment, in low- and middle-income countries, went to 48 new projects. This number, though 20 percent smaller than in 2005, was still among the largest since 1995. In the past three years new projects have averaged 52 a year—the largest number since 1990.

Projects involving treatment plants have become more common, accounting for 33 of the 48 new contracts. Compared with projects in other infrastructure sectors, those in water and sanitation tend to involve less investment or none at all. Reflecting this, management and lease contracts accounted for about 27 percent of projects in 2006.

Most of the new activity was in China, where 32 projects involving $890 million in investment reached closure. In Central Asia and Europe five countries reported private activity: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, the Russian Federation, and the Slovak Republic.

Latin America saw its lowest level of investment since the early 1990s. Activity was limited to two new contracts, one in Colombia and another, a sewage treatment plant, in Colima, Mexico. Sub-Saharan Africa also had just two new ones, a lease contract in Senegal and a management contract in South Africa.

This information is drawn from the Private Participation in Infrastructure Project Database, a joint initiative of PPIAF and the World Bank. For a full report click here. For more about PPIAF’s activities in this sector, click here.