Urban Services in Sub-Saharan Africa

Professor Stephen Commins addresses the options for services delivery in Africa, with an emphasis on water supply, an area covered earlier "...In the case of water and sanitation services in African urban locales, there is a widespread acceptance that the 'model' for water and sanitation services that has worked in developed countries cannot be adapted in the short to medium term for developing countries, especially in Africa...The potential roles of independent providers and their relationships to utilities vary considerably - influenced particularly by existing supply, capacity and attitudes. The second is the informal nature of many Non-State Providers and the lack of definitive information on the effects of formalization on the creative and responsive nature of their service. The tension around the issue of formalization is central to the discussion of a number of other thorny issues concerning Non-State Providers..."