Meeting water demand in growing cities: a PPP project in Sudan

Significant increases in investment and improvements in management capacity are required to meet the demand for infrastructure services in the rapidly growing cities of low- and middle-income countries. Closing the infrastructure financing gap requires both public and private finance. Sudan has long experienced under-investment in potable water infrastructure, and access to clean drinking water in fast-growing Khartoum is inadequate. The Al Manara water treatment project is a success story, with capacity to deliver international standard water at scale, despite Sudan's ongoing economic difficulties. A public–private partnership structure allows timely completion of works and ensures sound management while transferring technical skills to the local utility and its Sudanese staff. The paper concludes by considering the extent to which this approach may be replicable in other cities of politically fragile countries.