Municipal asset management or mismanagement? A six ‘Whats’ perspective on current practices and challenges in Ethiopia’s urban water sector

Effective systems of asset management can strengthen the performance of a local economy and community significantly. Despite the existence of new and interactive technologies for recording and communicating assets and asset management, many local authorities across the developing world have not taken advantage of the emerging revolutionary ways in which technologies may benefit municipal asset management. The analysis reviews the current practices, challenges and policy options for Ethiopian cities with regard to the state of the art technology for Municipal Asset Management (MAM) in the water and sanitation sector. Empirical evidence relate to a number of independent studies carried out in a sample of Ethiopian cities and towns. The pooling together of these findings was achieved through the Comparative Studies framework. In addition, data was also solicited from a panel of experts dealing with water and sanitation issues. The overall analysis was done within the context of the six Whats? Framework. Results indicate that, the water sector has gone through a number of reforms that have not cascaded into improved infrastructure asset management. Lack of financial resources, human resource expertise and appropriate organizational strategy has constrained the adoption and application of system software for effective asset management.