Models of financing sanitation infrastructure initiatives in India: Challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Access to sanitation is one of the key sustainable development goals. The data from World Health Organizations suggest that worldwide 2.3 billion people lack access to basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines. About, 892 million people defecate in the open. This open defecation includes street gutters, open fields, railway tracks, behind bushes, into open bodies of water etc. (WHO, 2018). With 56 per cent population lacking access to basic sanitation, India ranks one in the list of top 10 worst countries with basic sanitation facilities (Wateraid, 2017). Poor sanitation leads to several health problems, and the data suggest that worldwide improper sanitation is estimated to cause 4,77,293 diarrheal deaths annually. In India alone, about 39.8 percent of the population face the problem of open defecation which causes 1,10,031 diarrheal deaths annually (Unicef,2018). Toilet economy in India, including toilet construction and upgradation is worth US $32 Billion per year market in India today and is expected to double to an estimated US $62 Billion by 2021 (Toilet Board Coalition, 2017). As infrastructure projects are capital intensive and require large investments with long gestation periods, it will be difficult this huge investment by one stakeholder. Meeting this huge requirement will need collaboration between various stakeholders like government, private sector, non-government organizations, public funding, member’s contribution and so on. Various stakeholders have taken various initiatives in this regard and adopted innovative strategy to get financing for the same. A relook on various existing models and their pros and cons will help in building policies for financing sanitation programme and will help in increasing access to sanitation. The objective of this study is to document and analyse various models of financing for sanitation projects. The paper will explore various existing model of financing infrastructure projects through secondary review of literature and will analyse the suitability of each model in Indian context based on a six set criteria adopted by IRC (2011). The study concludes that only construction of toilets will not be sufficient to meet the requirement of increased access to sanitation, rather, the focus should be on a full chain financing as maintenance of these created infrastructure will also be crucial for sustaining the impact of sanitation initiatives. Initiatives like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is only a tip on iceberg in achieving the goals of sanitation and open defecation free India. It will require a more sustainable approach in the form of full chain financing for a larger impact on sanitation. Various models have been tried but most of them operate at one or two stages of the chain. A full cycle approach is still missing and a more holistic approach is needed for achieving this objective. Partnership between various stakeholders will play an important role in achieving this objective.