PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: Senegal looks to the private sector as part of wastewater reform plan

摘要

Senegal's national wastewater utility, the Office National de l'Assainissement (ONAS) is considering outsourcing the operations and maintenance (O&M) of its infrastructure to the private sector and procuring its next generation of WWTPs using private finance as part of a sweeping reform of urban sanitation. Ababakar Mbaye, ONAS's CEO, told GWI that the utility had spent the last couple of years working on a comprehensive benchmarking study with the help of the World Bank in order to prepare its next chapter. "The water sector went through a reform in 1996 with the creation of [operator] Senegalaise des Eaux (SDE) and [asset-holding company] Societe Nationale des Eaux de Senegal (Sones); this was renewed in 2020 with Sen'Eau [SDE's successor]," he said. "But sanitation hasn't kept up with those reforms: ONAS still operates the infrastructure." ONAS has already started experimenting with private sector participation in non-sewered sanitation (which serves the bulk of the population): 11 of the country's 17 faecal sludge treatment plants (FSTPs) are operated by Senegalese company Delvic under a 10-year O&M contract. ONAS operates the remaining FSTPs and all the sewerage infrastructure.