Public Utilities in the Age of Partnership: Lessons from Private Participation in Urban Water Supply

Abstract

This thesis reflects on the application of public-private partnership (PPP) to urban water supply. While PPPs remain an interesting possibility for overcoming financial, quality, and efficiency issues, this research demonstrates that PPP management requires technically complex administrative and regulatory inputs, particular institutional underpinnings, and fitting modes of adaptation in order to attain the goals that motivate private participation. The research problematizes the notion of ?success? by proposing that institutional performance (lastingness) and instrumental performance (attainment of policy goals) are not one and the same. The research applies an innovative framework for examining conditions of performance based on notions of credible commitment and adaptability. Quantitative and qualitative analyses examine the effects of four variable classes (rooted conditions, context dynamics, regulatory settings, and project rules) on the credibility of commitments and capacity for the PPP to adjust to external shocks and changing operating contexts over time. The research employs large-N quantitative regression analyses and comparative case studies of water supply concessions in Jakarta, Indonesia; Manila, Philippines; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.