La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia: Developing Water Supply and Sanitation Services for Marginal Urban Populations

Actors

The El Alto Pilot Project - or Peri-Urban Initiative for Water and Sanitation (IPAS) - is principally a partnership between the private concessionaire (Aguas del Illimani or AdI and its parent company, Ondeo formerly Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux), the government (Ministry of Housing and Basic Services), the municipalities of La Paz and El Alto, the Superintendencia de Aguas (a national regulatory body) and international donor agencies (Water and Sanitation Program and the Swedish International Development Agency).

Project Description

The project includes the following elements: i] Ethnographic research (aimed to establish a framework for understanding the behaviour in relation to water services of inhabitants of low-income neighbourhoods); ii] Research on appropriate technology (the condominial system); iii] Technological implementation (including consultation with beneficiary communities, preliminary design, construction plus supervision, usage and maintenance training); iv] Monitoring and systematisation of implementation; v] Institutionalisation (the development of a new set of standards and regulations for approval by the Ministry of Housing and Basic Services).

In Condominial systems one network runs through the whole block with a communal connection to the main network. This means smaller pipe diameters, fewer pipes and shallower trenches whilst maintenance is assumed to be the responsibility of individual households.

Context

In 1997 the Superintendencia de Aguas was established to grant and regulate W&S concessions and approve water tariffs, removing W&S provision from municipal control. The concession process was designed to ensure the maximum service expansion to low-income households. The only bidder, SLdE-AdI, submitted an ambitious bid, committing to achieve 100% water coverage in La Paz and to install 71,752 new water connections in El Alto (along with bold sanitation targets). The El Alto Pilot project was launched in February 1998 by the WSP and SIDA with AdI joining shortly thereafter once the concession had been awarded.

Since 1998 an ongoing economic crisis has set the wider context in Bolivia. Protests forced the termination of the Cochabamba concession. Mayoral elections installed new leadership in El Alto. Systematised devaluation of the peso has led to significant dollar-linked tariff rate increases. Civic protests have been frequent in La Paz and El Alto in the past year over various issues relating to municipal services (electricity, water, police protection, etc.).

Project Beneficiaries

El Alto is the significantly poorer of the two adjacent cities, and the target population for the pilot projects are largely rural Aymara migrants. They retain a strong cultural and social identity. Fejuves (neighbourhood associations) represent the profusion of Juntas Vecinales (neighbourhood committees - 385+ within El Alto), but as these are highly politicised community representation is not straightforward. Average family incomes are as low as $120/month and many people commute into La Paz for work - this plus cultural customs keep water consumption low.

Objectives and Structures of Partnership

The short-term pilot objective was to provide W&S connections to 5,000 poor households. The long-term aim is to identify and test innovative, affordable (and replicable) solutions for service provision to the poor. A Steering Committee and Technical Committee guide the pilot.

Roles and Responsibilities

AdI is in charge of infrastructure expansion. It also finances the social intervention components of the pilot. The Ministry of Basic Services and Housing initiated and supports the project - its role is to assess the potential replicability in other Bolivian cities. SIDA funds the position of an expert in the condominial system, whilst the WSP provides technical assistance, institutional strengthening, and documentation - it also provides the overall monitoring of the project. The Municipalities of La Paz and El Alto oversee technical implementation and ensure compliance with building standards. Microcredit agencies provide micro-credit to finance connections and internal installation. The Juntas Vecinales play a role in choosing their own technical and financing options. The national regulator oversees the whole concession arrangement and makes recommendations on adjustments to standards and norms.

Community Liaison

The condominial system requires that households are actively involved in the maintenance of the system - community engagement and participatory planning are thus key elements in project development. The operator has developed an integrated community scheme, the Plan Comunidad, with two main features: hygiene education and a micro-credit component to pay for internal plumbing fixtures. A further objective is to increase water usage as current low volumes and an uneconomic lifeline tariff make cost recovery difficult. Early on AdI established field offices in each of the pilot neighbourhoods, providing a direct channel for community members to ask questions, raise grievances etc. This direct relationship appears to have been invaluable in setting the tone with communities. Given their significant experience in working with communities and the expense in establishing offices in pilot areas, relationships with new communities will be less intensive. Communities are not directly represented on the Steering and Technical committees.

Communications and Feedback

Partner communications have been mostly via the Technical Committee. Although relationships have been generally good, recent senior staff changes have proven somewhat disruptive. As mentioned, WSP takes the lead in monitoring and thus feedback.

Evolution and Institutionalisation

Community liaison has evolved - the difficulty in finding an NGO partner has led to the company working directly with communities, where it learned to adopt an increasingly participative approach. Significant staffing changes have changed actors participation - this flux has added to that already expected in the pilot (WSP involvement was always due to be phased out). Early on AdI set up a special pilot project office, which became increasingly mainstreamed - to the extent that AdI were seeking to replicate the approach throughout the concession. The phasing out of the Technical Committee at the end of the pilot programme is currently promoting a re-think about future partnership structures.

Results

By June 2000 over 5000 condominial connections had been installed. An evaluation has already been conducted although follow up work is necessary. However, lower than expected cost recovery (whether due to tariff levels or otherwise) has raised some questions for the future.

Strengths

Attainment of targets; strong institutional structures, good forum for consensus building; significant commitments by key stakeholders; high international profile; close co-operation of public and private; inclusion of regulator; explicit consideration given to replication; strong community participation; strong donor support; good documentation and lesson learning; incorporation of M&E element, etc;

Next Steps and Replicability

Replicability of the pilot was a large consideration from the beginning. The results of the technical evaluation and the subsequent decisions of the Ministry of Housing will be significant milestones. The phasing out of WSP will be a big issue, as will the reaction of the company and partnership to ongoing civil disturbances in Bolivia and unpopular rate rises. Renegotiation of the concession is also on the horizon.

Wider Lessons

• Role of facilitator important
• Lessons regarding how community can be incorporated into project
• Potential for direct community/company relationship (especially when NGO lacking)
• Difficulty of defining appropriate civil society partners
• Communication channels between different stakeholders must remain clear
• Likely lessons stemming from technical evaluation of pilot
• Regular update and clarification of expectations useful
• Importance of ongoing commitment to private sector participation (and potential for disruption where absent)
• Issues related to both exclusivity and universal service obligations and how these may impact incentives
• How overall incentive structures within contracts can affect partnership and project.

Synopsis content update: 04 July 2001