Private Sector Participation in the Provision of Quality Drinking Water in Ghana’s Urban Areas: Are People Willing to Pay?

Access to clean drinking water is not only a fundamental human right, but also claims a big stake in economic growth, poverty reduction and sustainable development. With an increase in population, rapid urbanization and increasing income levels, the demand for water outstrips public water supply in developing countries. As a result, private water production has been promoted in developing countries to achieve greater efficiency and expansion in order to supplement public water supply. This study used the contin-gent valuation method to survey households in three cities in Ghana to estimate their willingness to pay in a bid to evaluate a policy of better water supply for urban areas in Ghana. It was found that more than 80% of the respondents favour some form of private sector engagement in water quality improvement. Also, the mean willingness to pay for water quality improvement is about GH¢13.42 (US$12) per month. Given the mean household monthly water bill of GH¢10.82, these results indicate that there is demand for water quality improvement and the general view is that private sector engagement is likely to provide these services. However, the same policy measure will marginalize the poor in terms of access to water. Therefore, private sector participation in water de-livery, with a corresponding complementary government programme to promote access to water among low income households, would deliver the double dividends of water quality and universal access, which characterize the debate on private sector engage-ment in water provision in Ghana.