Water Utility Corporatization

Overview

The Water Utility Corporatization library provides a base of information for use by a) municipal and utility managers undertaking corporatization initiatives, and b) by USAID and other donors in designing interventions to assist utilities identifying corporatization strategies. The library is not intended as a “how to” manual, nor to establish “models” to be replicated; rather, it is an informational tool to facilitate corporatization activities.

The library also contains key “instruments” or documents that provided the framework for corporatization reforms of selected water utilities that have successfully corporatized. The documents in the library include:

Presentations and Case Studies

Basic principles and characteristics of corporatization are described in a comprehensive presentation. A second presentation provides a more concise exposition of basic principles, and may be of value to the user in developing his/her own presentations on the subject. Each presentation also has embedded links to useful references.

Case Studies

The Water Utility Corporatization library also provides examples of instruments that have been used successfully by utilities around the world. USAID selected the following utilities based on input from USAID Missions and utility experts.

• Aqaba Water Company, Jordan Case Study
• City of Bielsko-Bialav Water Utility (AQUA), Poland Case Study
• State of Minas Gerais Water Authority (COPASA), Brazil Case Study
• Johannesburg Water Utility (JNB), South Africa Case Study
• National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), Uganda Case Study
• Public Utilities Board (PUB), Singapore Case Study
• Sydney Water Corporation, Australia Case Study

References

• Good Governance in Restructuring Water Supply: A Handbook, Dr. Karen Bakker, Federation of Canadian Municipalities
• The Corporate Governance Scorecard – A Tool for the Implementation of Corporate Governance, Paper, Christian Strenger, DWS Investment GmbH
• Focus: Corporate Governance and Development, Report, Stijn Claessens, Global Corporate Governance Forum, © 2003
• The Irresistible Case for Corporate Governance, Policy Note, International Finance Corporation, March 2006
• Some Options for Improving the Governance of State-Owned Electricity Utilities, Paper, Timothy Irwin and Chiaki Yamamoto, World Bank and The Energy and Mining Sector Board, © 2004
• Public Policy for the Private Sector: Corporate Responsibility When Will Voluntary Reputation Building Improve Standards, Policy Note, Michael Klein and Tim Harford, World Bank-International Finance Corporation, May 2004
• Public Policy for the Private Sector: Optimal Size for Utilities? Returns to Scale in Water: Evidence from Benchmarking, Policy Note, Nicola Tynan and Bill Kingdom, World Bank-International Finance Corporation, January 2005
• Characteristics of Well-Performing Water Utilities, Working Notes, Aldo Baietti, Bill Kingdom, Meike van Ginneken, World Bank Water Supply and Sanitation, February 2006
• Financing Water Supply and Sanitation Investments Estimating Revenue Requirements and Financial Sustainability, Working Notes, Aldo Baietti and Paolo Curiel, World Bank Water Supply and Sanitation Working Notes, October 2005
• Held by the Visible Hand: The Challenge of SOE Corporate Governance for Emerging Markets, World Bank, May 2006