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Armstrong, A (2022) Revenue patterns of piped water services in rural Africa, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
- Type: Thesis
- Keywords: emergence; policy; service delivery; professional; Ghana; Kenya; Malawi; Rwanda; Tanzania; Uganda; investment; payment
- ISBN/ISSN:
- URL: http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:02225c98-0d0c-48ab-81a7-91951eb56281
- Abstract:
Rural Africa lags behind all other global regions in progress towards establishing universal and equitable access to safely managed drinking water. This challenge is marked by a notional interest in piped water for achieving service level goals while increasing demand and financial viability. Yet, a paucity of reliable information and evidence perpetuates unrealistic assumptions of how infrastructure and payment collection alternatives influence seasonal revenue generation. The emergence of professional service delivery models offers new sources of operational and financial data with potential to address knowledge gaps and inform viable, resilient, and equitable drinking water investments. The primary aim of this project is to understand how seasonal patterns of domestic water use and payments affect revenue from piped water services in rural Africa. Empirical analyses have drawn on longitudinal records from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda that cumulatively span more than 500 service-years. In contrast to conventional assumptions, findings suggest household-level services exhibit similar seasonal revenue variability as off-site services and are not consistently associated with higher revenue when tariff level is controlled. Piped service areas with consistent seasonal rainfall have a third less revenue during wet months. Furthermore, prepaid credit payments do not consistently improve revenue generation compared to conventional payment approaches. Three recommendations for rural water policy and practice are highlighted from this research. First, the threat of seasonal revenue variability to rural piped water services can be characterised by assessing rainfall patterns on localised, intra-seasonal scales. Second, complementary revenue patterns of on- and off-premises services can be leveraged at incremental stages of infrastructure investment. Third, caution should be exercised when considering prepaid credit over conventional payment approaches to prevent unrealistic revenue expectations and perverse outcomes.
Chapman, C (2023) Green and grey drainage infrastructure: costs and benefits of reducing surface water flood risk, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Driessen, M (2014) Asphalt encounters: Chinese road building in Ethiopia, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Huang, J (2020) Infrastructure, the economy and policy, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Lau, C H (2019) The global trading activities of consulting engineering firms: managing risk and geographical choice, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Marwah, H (2011) Investing in ghosts: Building and construction in Nigeria's oil boom and bust c1960-2000, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Merdinger, C J (1949) A history of civil engineering, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
O'Mahony, M M (1990) Recycling of materials in civil engineering, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Peveler, E (2018) The supply of building materials to construction projects in Roman Oxfordshire: Logistics, economics, and social significance, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Pickhaver, J A (2006) Numerical modelling of building response to tunnelling, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.
Sheng, X (2018) Public-private partnership in the development of infrastructure under the 'Belt and Road' initiative, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Oxford.