Pro-poor water service strategies in developing countries: promoting justice in Uganda’s urban project

Water service to the urban poor presents challenges to political leaders, regulators and managers. We identify technology mixes of yard taps, public water points (with and without pre-paid meters) to meet alternative constraints, and reflecting populations served and investment requirements. Three investment scenarios have different implications for improving water access to over 400,000 citizens in Kampala. One component, pre-paid water meters, can promote social equity and institutional sustainability. If procedural justice is given as much weight as distributive justice in the selection of pro-poor programs, pre-paid meters (the ultimate cost recovery tool) can have a place in the investment plan. The study examines how public stand pipes (and a combination of other options) can meet both financial constraints and social objectives. Financial considerations cannot be wished away when seeking effective strategies for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.Water utility optimization; pro-poor connections; pre-paid meters; cost recovery; Africa; Uganda

Revisiting the strengths and limitations of regulatory contracts in infrastructure industries

This paper evaluates regulation by contract in public-private partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure services. Although the benefits of competition for the market and of regulatory contracts are widely acknowledged, the literature indentifies several failures in their design. These ‘flaws’ are present in both developed and developing countries and arise in all types of contracts. This study analyses both short and long term contracts, focusing on purely contractual PPPs and institutionalized PPPs (mixed companies). The evidence suggests that for all kinds of contracts, the major problems tend to arise in the preparation of public tender documents: the ‘best’ bidder is not often the winner. The likely results include redistribution in favor of the private partner, weak incentives for high performance, and renegotiation of contracts. Moreover, risks are not allocated correctly nor is effective monitoring ensured. This review of contract procedures and design allows us to draw several implications for policy-makers and to present suggestions and recommendations for improving regulatory contracts.regulation by contract; bidding documents; contract design; risk; monitoring

Quantitative studies of water and sanitation utilities: a literature survey

This paper performs a literature update of quantitative studies of water and sanitation services (WSS). There are 190 studies which use cost or production functions to evaluate the performance of WSS utilities. The studies examine (1) the scale, scope or density economies of utilities in a particular country or region, (2) the influence of ownership on efficiency, (3) the existence and power of incentives associated with different governance systems (including external regulation), and (4) performance assessment (benchmarking). In addition, this paper presents some patterns regarding quantitative methods adopted over time and major trends in results.benchmarking; water and sanitation utilities; literature survey

Regulation and corporate corruption: new evidence from the telecom sector

This paper examines how government regulation in developing countries affects the form of corruption between business customers and service providers in the telecom sector. We match the World Bank enterprise-level data on bribes with a unique cross-country telecom regulation dataset collected by Wallsten et al. (2004), finding that 1) strong regulatory substance (the content of regulation) and regulatory governance reduce corruption; 2) competition and privatization reduces corruption; 3) the effects of regulatory substance on corruption control are stronger in countries with state-owned or partially state-owned telecoms, greater competition, and higher telecommunication fees; and 4) bureaucratic quality exert substitution effects to regulatory substance in deterring corruption. Overall, our results suggest that regulatory strategies that reduce information asymmetry and increase accountability tend to reduce illegal side-payments for connections.Telecommunications; Regulation; Corruption

Stratigraphic and Structural Framework of Upper Middle Ordovician Rocks in the Head Lake-Burleigh Falls Area of South-Central Ontario

Field investigations in the Head Lake-Burleigh Falls area of south-central Ontario, that focused mainly on the Covey Hill(?), Shadow Lake, Gull River and Coboconk formations along the Paleozoic escarpment, provided clear evidence of faulting. Observed and inferred structural deformation, coupled with faciès changes within the Shadow Lake and lower Gull River, point to a succession of basement movements during the Phanerozoic. These range from Hadrynian-Early Cambrian, through Middle Ordovician to post-late Middle Ordovician times. Some of the earlier movements (Hadrynian-Early Cambrian to late Middle Ordovician) appear to be coincident with, and probably related to, plate tectonic events and the associated Taconian orogeny that were in progress along the southeastern margins of the North American continent. Post-Middle Ordovician block faulting, on the other hand, may have been triggered by any number of epeirogenic events related to late stage Taconian, Acadian or Alleghanian orogenies in Late Ordovician to Carboniferous times, or possibly to rifting associated with continental break-up and initiation of seafloor spreading processes in the early Mesozoic. Manuscrit révisé accepté le 5 août 1993Des levés de terrain faits dans la région de Head Lake-Burleigh Falls, portant surtout sur les formations de Covey HiII (?), Shadow Lake, Gull River et Coboconk ont fait ressortir la présence de failles. Les déformations tectoniques observées et supposés, ainsi que les changements de faciès dans le Shadow Lake et le cours inférieur de la GuII River, montrent qu'il y a eu une succession de mouvements du socle pendant le Phanérozoïque. Ces mouvements se sont produits de l'Hadryanien-Cambrien inférieur à l'Ordovicien moyen, puis jusqu'après l'Ordovicien moyen supérieur. Certains des premiers mouvements (Hadryanien-Cambrien inférieur à l'Ordovicien moyen) semblent coïncider avec la tectonique des plaques, et y être reliés, et avec l'orogenèse du Taconique qui s'est manifestée sur les marges sud-ouest du continent nord-américain. La formation de failles dans les blocs après l'Ordovicien moyen, d'autre part, a pu être provoquée par un ou plusieurs événements épirogénétiques liés aux orogenèses du dernier étage du Taconique, de l'Acadien et de l'Alléghanien de l'Ordovicien supérieur au Carbonifère pendant la formation des fossés d'effondrement lié à la séparation des continents et le début de l'expansion océanique au Mésozoïque inférieur.FeIdforschungen im Head Lake-Burleigh FaIIs-Gebiet, sùdliches Zentrum von Ontario, die sich hauptsàchlich auf die Bildungen von Covey Hill(?), Shadow Lake, Gull River und Coboconk entlang des palàozoischen Steilabfalls konzentrierten, ergaben ein klares BiId der Verweiiung. Die beobachteten und vermuteten strukturellen Verformungen weisen zusammen mit Fazies-Ànderungen im Shadow Lake und dem unteren Lauf des GuII River auf eine Aufeinanderfolge von Untergrundbewegungen wàhrend des Phanerozoikums. Dièse reichen vom frùhhadrynischen Kambrium durch das mittlere Ordovizium bis zu Zeiten nach dem spàten mittleren Ordovizium. Einige der frùheren Bewegungen (frùhhadrynisches Kambrium bis spates mittleres Ordovizium) scheinen mit der Tektonik der Platten sowie der takonischen Orogenèse, welche entlang der sudôstlichen Rander des nordamerikanischen Kontinents stattgefunden haben, zeitlich zusammenzufallen und verbunden zu sein. Die Bildung von Brùchen in den Blôcken nach dem mittleren Ordovizium kônnte andererseits durch ein oder mehrere epirogenetische Ereignisse ausgelôst worden sein, verbunden mit den Orogenesen der letzten takonischen, akadischen und alleghanischen Stufe vom spàten Ordovizium bis zum Karbon, oder wohl auch verbunden mit Spaltung auf Grund des Auseinanderbrechens der Kontinente und dem Beginn der Ausbreitung des Meeresbodens im frùen Mesozoikum

Constitutional Norms in a State of Permanent Emergency

The U.S. Constitution, drafted by our nation’s founding fathers well over 200 years ago, remains as the primary document guiding our nation’s system of democracy. However, in times of national emergencies, absolute adherence is sometimes set aside to meet immediate needs. The events of September 11 provide the most recent example of this conflict between strict constitutional fidelity and presidential emergency powers. Introduction by Professor Kevin Heller

Evidentiary Privileges Against the Production of Data within the Control of Executive Departments

In the conduct of their affairs the various executive departments and administrative agencies acquire much information--reports, documents, records of all kinds, and other data--which may be useful to litigants in civil and criminal actions. The public interest in a full and fair hearing of all disputes between individuals and between individuals and the state calls for the production and disclosure of all evidence relevant to the issues in dispute. This public interest calls for the production and disclosure of relevant evidence within the control of executive departments and administrative agencies. The evidence sought, however, may be of such a nature that its production and disclosure would be inimical to other public interests. When it is determined that the latter interests should prevail, the evidence is said to be privileged. The courts, the legislatures and the executive departments and administrative agencies have sometimes found that the public interests opposed to disclosure should prevail where certain types of evidence within the control of executive departments or administrative agencies has been sought. No acceptable term has been coined to cover all the privileges asserted as to data within the control of executive departments and administrative agencies. For want of such a term they will be called executive privileges herein. Requests for the production or disclosure of evidence in the control of an executive department or administrative agency give rise to a number of problems distinct from but interrelated with the problems of executive privilege. Among these are: (1) the general scope of discovery, interrogatories and other pre-trial methods of disclosure; (2) questions of substantive privilege; (3) the power of the courts to compel executive and administrative officers to act; (4) questions of admissibility and exclusion of evidence on other grounds, e.g., the hearsay rule and its exceptions; (5) questions involving the removability of official records; (6) the amenability of the state to suit.° All of these are beyond the scope of this article.\u2