A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Environmental Management

Access to safe water and sanitation has been a development priority for decades and included in the MDGs. Meanwhile, privatization of water supply continues a subject of intense debate, particularly as to its effects on the urban poor. The arguments for and against it often reflect the intellectual divide along the socialist ideal and neo-liberal pragmatism. Although the literature on privatization is vast, most research has been on its macroeconomic (growth, investment, employment) impacts. This study has attempted at analyzing household level impacts, particularly on the urban poor, from an investigation of the first water supply privatization scheme implemented in Thailand since the mid 1990s. The study assesses changes in the indicators at the household level, between pre (1998) and post (2003) privatization periods, identified for this research as, access, water quality, service quality, and service costs. The study analyzes theses the changes affecting various categories of the urban poor and comparing the same with the non-poor and with technical data on access and quality. The analyses reveal that poor in each category have gained from privatization of water supply, especially access and quality, while the cost increase has not been significant. This further shows that poor, normally excluded from the public provision of service, are willing to pay to get access to good quality service and that the private sector do not distinguish household based on tenure or income status. The study also confirms that privatization can be made to work for the urban poor of a developing country if implemented in a regulated and gradual manner. It also offers clues on how the principles of cross-subsidy can be applied as part of the privatization concept and that there exists a way to make privatization pro-poor.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2009