Water Supply and Sanitation in Cambodia: Turning Finance Into Services for the Future
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Service Delivery Assessment May 2015 Water Supply and Sanitation in Cambodia Turning Finance into Services for the Future This report is the product of extensive collaboration and information sharing between many government agencies and organisations in Cambodia. A core team drawn from the Ministry of Rural Development (Department of Rural Health Care, Department of Rural Water Supply and Department of Planning and Public Relations), and the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft, as well as the Ministry of Public Works and Transport have been key partners with the Water and Sanitation Pro- gram (WSP) of the World Bank in analyzing the sector. The authors acknowledge the valuable contributions made by these organizations, as well as other sector stakeholders, including development partners and NGOs partners in the sector that participated in the workshops and have shared their information, such as UNICEF, ADB, JICA, UN-Habitat, SNV, and others. The Task Team Leader for the Regional Service Delivery Assessment (SDA) in East Asia and Pacific is Susanna Smets. The following World Bank staff and consultants have provided valuable contributions to the Service Delivery Assessment pro- cess and report for Cambodia: Phyrum Kov, Sopheap Ly, Virak Chan, Kuysrorn Seng, Sandra Giltner and Almud Weitz. This report was peer reviewed by World Bank staff Lixin Gu and Claire Grisaffi, as well as Belinda Abraham from UNICEF. The report also has benefited greatly from the Cambodia Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Review completed in 2013, which was led by World Bank staff Lixin Gu. The SDA was carried out under the guidance of the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program and local partners. This re- gional work, implemented through a country-led process, draws on the experience of water and sanitation SDAs conducted in more than 40 countries in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. An SDA analysis has three main components: a review of past water and sanitation access, a costing model to assess the ad- equacy of future investments, and a scorecard that allows diagnosis of bottlenecks along the service de livery pathways. SDA’s contribution is to answer not only whether past trends and future finance are sufficient to meet sector targets for infrastructure and hardware but also what specific issues need to be addressed to ensure that fi nance is effectively turned into accelerated and sustainable water supply and sanitation service delivery. The Water and Sanitation Program is a multi-donor partnership, part of the World Bank Group’s Water Global Practice, sup- porting poor people in obtaining affordable, safe, and sustainable access to water and sanitation services. WSP’s donors include Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Nor- way, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, and the World Bank. WSP reports are published to communicate the results of WSP’s work to the development community. Some sources cited may be informal documents that are not readily available. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed herein are entirely those of the author and should not be attributed to the World Bank or its affiliated organizations, or to members of the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The bound- aries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of the World Bank Group concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. The material in this publication is copyrighted. Requests for permission to reproduce portions of it should be sent to world- [email protected]. WSP encourages the dissemination of its work and will normally grant permission promptly. For more information, please visit www.wsp.org. © 2015 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank Water Supply and Sanitation in Cambodia Turning Finance into Services for the Future Strategic Overview Against a backdrop of strong economic growth and increas- tween the poorest and better-off groups of society remain ing household consumption over the past decade, Cambodia large. For example, among the poorest income quintile of the has made considerable progress to help people gain access rural population only 12% has access to improved sanitation, to improved water and sanitation services, most notably in while in the richest rural quintile this is five times as much at urban areas, where around one fifth of the population lives. 59%. In urban areas, with overall good levels of improved As of 2012, according to Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) access, 86% of the population in the richest quintile enjoys data, access to improved water supply in Cambodia reached piped water supply services, as compared to 34% for the 71%, up from 42% in 2000 and already having met the Mil- poorest quintile, while overall levels of service in rural areas lennium Development Goal (MDG) target of 66%. For sanita- are much lower with only 5% access to piped services.3 tion, improved access increased from 16% in 2000 to 37% in 2012, however, remains not on track to meet the MDG target Over the past decade, government has initiated a of 55%.1 Based on these figures, some 4.3 million people are decentralization and deconcentration (D&D) process, with the still without access to improved water supply and 9.4 million aim of increasing responsiveness of service delivery, improve lack access to improved sanitation. efficiencies and enhance accountabilities. While reforms are progressing, the respective mandates of the three tiers The Royal Government of Cambodia has adopted alternative of government are not yet clearly defined, accountability national goals, known as the Cambodian MDGs, with 2015 systems are unclear and the real empowerment of citizens targets set for each subsector. In the case of rural sanitation has not, so far, become a reality.4 The endorsement of the the target is very modest at 30%, however this target could policy framework for social accountability in July 20135 and probably be met as rural access was estimated to be 25% its consequent implementation plan is expected to enhance in 2012. The National Strategic Development Plan 2014-18 citizen empowerment, accountability and local service contains more ambitious targets of 60% improved access delivery. A positive recent development within this context for rural and 85% of piped access for urban water supply is the current investigation, with support of ADB and WSP, to respectively, and 60% for rural sanitation by 2018. Universal assign rural sanitation and rural water scheme maintenance access targets have officially been adopted by 2025 for the to sub-national administrations as a mandatory function, rural sectors in the National Strategic Plan for Rural Water however, implementation6 of pilots has not yet started. Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (RWSSH) 2014-2025.2 The National Strategic Plan for RWSSH has not yet been Despite recent impressive gains in access, disparities remain operationalized into a National Action Plan. This multi-year especially between urban and rural populations, illustrated operational plan with budget for funding by government and by only 25% of rural people having access to sanitation, as development partners under a programmatic approach7 is ex- compared to 82% in urban areas. Moreover, inequalities be- pected to be realized by mid 2015. Major bottlenecks in the 1 JMP (2014) Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation – Update 2014. 2 The NSDP 2014-2018 specifies a target of 80% access to improved sanitation for the urban population, however as per JMP (2014) estimates this is already achieved (82% by 2012); the NSDP is not clear about the definition that applies to this target. 3 CSES (2011) Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey 2011 4 World Bank (2013) Voice, Choice and Decision: A Study of Local Governance Processes in Cambodia. 5 World Bank (2014) Demand for Good Governance Policy Note, January 2014 - The Strategic Plan for Social Accountability in Sub-National Democratic Development; and 6 World bank (2014) Demand for Good Governance Policy Note, August 2014 - An Implementation Plan for Subnational Social Accountability in Cambodia 7 World Bank (2012) Cambodia Water and Sanitation Sector Review iv Water Supply and Sanitation in Cambodia rural subsectors relate to both inadequate capital and opera- level—is required to address the entire sanitation value tional resources, leaving the Ministry of Rural Development chain: collection, management, treatment and disposal of mandate for rural water supply and sanitation largely unfunded. fecal waste, including networked sewers, waste water and Robust and adequate systems, resources and human capaci- septage treatment, and fecal sludge management solutions ties are lacking for monitoring, community mobilization, and for on-site solutions. The fact that the urban sanitation the required comprehensive technical and managerial post- sector is still in early stages of development is reflected in construction support to sustain rural water scheme operation. a scorecard that illustrates the key bottlenecks in terms of the enabling policy environments, as well as the challenges In the urban sector, Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority, to expand and increase service levels in a sustainable way. which has extended reliable and affordable services to 85% of Phnom Penh residents, has been the main driver of prog- As part of this Service Delivery Assessment, unofficial targets ress in the sector. The NSDP 2014-2018 sets out an ambi- were developed for the urban subsectors namely universal tious reform agenda to develop the necessary legal and reg- access by 2025,9 as the rural subsector already have such ulatory framework, and support public utilities—other than officially endorsed targets. In order to reach the 2025 goals Siem Reap and Phnom Penh—to become autonomous, op- for rural and urban subsectors, about US$92 million would erate on commercial principles and expand services.