ABSTRACT

This chapter reviews some of the existing literature on urban water supply in developing countries that points towards the importance of PPPs and decentralization in financing and planning urban water systems, as well as to the dependence of these relationships on local leadership. It then describes an innovative system of local water service delivery developed in a rapidly urbanizing area of Vietnam to illustrate how decentralization and market reform have stimulated innovative state, private-sector and community partnerships in the absence of large-scale external capital investment in water supply. This case calls for a better understanding on the part of planners of how decentralization and market reform may affect the provision of basic urban services-especially in the fast-developing areas of Asia —as well as pointing out alternative ways in which “community” planning might be defined. In particular, it calls for an examination of the relationship between community residents and profit-motivated community entrepreneurial activities surrounding public goods provision. By doing so, this chapter suggests that, under the conditions of weak private-sector community structures, community planning may actually be the privatization of social responsibilities to community-based individuals.