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PROFILE: THE BURUNDI WSS REGULATOR

by bontaman
  1. INTRODUCTION

WSS service delivery is comprised of network infrastructures which create natural monopolies that need to be regulated.  Safe and equitable water supply and sanitation service provision depends on effective regulation to formalise the sector and provide clear guidelines for those working within it.

Regulators aim to ensure efficient, affordable, reliable and quality services while balancing the commercial interest (sustainability) with that of social consideration. Regulators ensure Government policy is implemented and service providers are accountable and supported in delivering services equitably. 

There are various approaches for instituting WSS regulation in a country. However, depending on the prevailing governance arrangements, regulation can typically be instituted using two models: – a) Regulation by Agency in which a regulatory body is given discretionary powers by government to oversee and sets rules for the sector, or b) Regulation by Contract whereby an oversight institution and a service provider agree on contractual clauses for monitoring performance and making regulatory decisions.

 

Ongoing water sector reforms in the Eastern and Southern African region have established autonomous regulators for water supply and sanitation (WSS) services provision in Lesotho, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Burundi, Zanzibar and Angola.  Some countries have reposed the WSS regulatory function in a government department or wing e.g., Uganda, South Sudan, South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

The regulators have generally been mandated to undertake both economic and technical regulation of WSS service provision, ensuring a balance between the quality of the service, the interests of consumers and the financial sustainability of service providers.

This article gives a brief profile of Autorité de Régulation des secteurs de l’Eau potable et de l’Energie (AREEN), the WSS regulator of Burundi.

 

  1. COUNTRY PROFILE

The Republic of Burundi is a small and densely populated, landlocked country bordered by Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, lies at the North-eastern end of Lake Tanganyika.

Burundi gained its independence in 1962, but the country has been plagued by tensions, including a civil war in 1994 which made Burundi the scene of one of Africa’s most unyielding conflicts. Burundi is one of the world’s poorest countries, with a decline in economic growth resulting from political instability.

Burundi has relatively abundant water resources, including Lake Tanganyika, the world’s second-largest freshwater lake by volume. The country also has several internal waterways and border rivers flowing from international channels. Because of its proximity to the equator, the country experiences adequate rainfall, varying from 750 mm in the extreme North-West to more than 2 000mm in the North-West, and an average of 1 274 mm of rain annually.

 

  1. WSS REFORMS

Despite Burundi’s abundant water resources, the demand for potable water is not met, and sanitation services are even more limited. According to the 2017 WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report, 87% of urban residents benefit from piped water on their premises, but only 25% of rural areas benefit from such services. Only 3 per cent of urban residents in Burundi receive sewage services, or 0.61 per cent of the total population.

Burundi’s WSS sector endured years of destruction by sabotage and neglect during the civil war and its aftermath. As Burundi continued to recover, new challenges emerged as the WSS sector moved from reconstruction to development. Drinking water and sanitation coverage declined as many of Burundi’s urban centres, and particularly peri-urban areas of Bujumbura, experienced rapid growth resulting from the return of exiled and internally displaced peoples. Households resorted to obtaining untreated water in rivers, lakes, shallow wells, and water hauliers and unmanaged standpipes. As a result, there was a persistence of waterborne diseases, leading to high mortality rates.

In the early 2000s, Burundi undertook decentralisation reforms to improve governance. A new constitution was adopted in 2005, providing communes or municipalities as decentralised administrative units. Cities are responsible for ensuring that populations have access to essential services such as water and sanitation. The central government transfers financial resources to municipalities to fulfil their mandates and enables communes to levy local resources via taxes, licenses and other municipal charges.

In 2000, Burundi adopted a law that both liberalised the sector and created a new regulatory framework. The law defined the conditions for private sector participation and allowed for establishing a regulatory entity for water supply and energy and a development fund for the sector. It stated that REGIDESO no longer had a monopoly over public drinking water and electricity supply. However, it was several years before this was fully implemented. 

 

  1. THE 2009 WATER POLICY

The Water Policy of 2009 set the guiding principles of government actions in the water sector. These fundamental principles include a government commitment to ensuring the availability of water resources (giving priority to domestic users), equitable access to good drinking water quality, sustainable use of water and a viable environment. The Water Policy also sets out the intention for the water sector to plan and mobilise investments through a programmatic approach. Finally, it provides a detailed action plan to achieve the government’s ambitions for sustainable and equitable water and sanitation services, starting with detailed inventories and allocating institutional responsibilities.

The 2009 policy priorities are as follows:

  • The rehabilitation of drinking water supply systems to increase access to this commodity considerably.
  • The construction of new systems in areas with the most significant shortage to reduce regional disparities in WSS.
  • Integrated management of the country’s water resources through integrated multipurpose information systems.
  • Improved hygiene and sanitation
  • Encouraging the private sector to invest in the industry to ensure its sustainability.

The National Development Plan (NDP) is the overarching planning framework guiding government actions, including those in the WASH sector. The NDP set the targets to “improve access to services” and “improve the water and sanitation sector management” and proposes ten sector-specific objectives to realise its ambitions related to infrastructure development and institutional strengthening. This promotion of the water sector as a key to national development objectives has provided sector institutions with the renewed impetus for developing sector strategies. 

A national water sector development policy is in progress, including implementing the National Water Master Plan (PDNE).

Several national institutions and government ministries are involved in the management of the sector. The Ministry of Water, Energy and Mines (MWEM), through its Directorate-General for Water and Energy (DGEE), is responsible for leading the central government’s overall policy formulation and administrative functions related to the WSS sector. The Directorate of Water Resources (DRH) within DGEE is responsible for developing strategies for sustainable development of the country’s water resources, developing and maintaining the country’s National Water Master Plan, and maintaining the water tariff policy for rural and urban areas. In rural areas, the Directorate General of Rural Water and Electricity (DGHER) oversees and coordinates drinking water and sanitation. The Water and Electric Authority (REGIDESO), an autonomous public utility operating under the supervision of MWEM and 34 Communal Water Authorities (RCEs), undertake actual service provision. REGIDESO is responsible for the catchment, treatment, and distribution of drinking water in urban areas, while RCEs supply drinking water to the rural areas. Municipal Engineering Services (SETEMU) is responsible for sewerage and wastewater treatment services.

 

  1. THE WSS REGULATOR

The WSS regulator of Burundi was created initially by Decree 100/320 of 22nd December 2011 bearing the name ‘Agency for the Control and Regulation of the Drinking Water and Electricity Sector in the Republic of Burundi (ACR)’. Decree 100/120 of 11th December 2015 included the responsibility for the mining sector and renamed ACR as ‘Agency for the Regulation of the Sectors of Drinking Water, Electricity and Mines’ (AREEM). Decree 100/159 of 5th November 2018 removed the mining portfolio and renamed AREEM to ‘Autorité de Régulation des secteurs de l’Eau potable et de l’Energie’ (AREEN) as the economic regulatory authority for drinking water, sanitation and energy sectors.

The regulatory authority is tasked with monitoring and regulating public service activities, ensuring economic and financial balance and preserving the economic conditions necessary for its viability.

AREEN promotes competition and private sector participation in the production, transport, distribution and sale of drinking water, as well as provision of safe and equitable sanitation services under objective, transparent and non-discriminatory conditions. It ensures that operators comply with the requirements for the execution of authorisations, concession contracts, public-private partnership contracts and their specifications and business plans. 

The regulator also ensures the implementation, monitoring and application of tariffs as per regulatory pricing principles and the settlement of disputes between actors. The regulator is tasked with protecting the interests of consumers and their rights, including regularity of supply, quality of service and compliance with tariffs, and ensuring that any operator in the sector respects the principle of equal treatment of users.

AREEN further proposes to the minister essential rectifications in his remit and drafts legal and regulatory briefs for governing the sector. Besides this, AREEN acts as an advisory body on the sectoral policy of drinking water and sanitation.

 

  1. KEY SECTOR HIGHLIGHTS
  • Burundi’s government recently developed a 10-year National Development Plan (NDP) to chart a path for growth to become an emerging country by 2027. The plan designated Burundi’s WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) sector as an area of high priority with “more than 8% of the total budget of the NDP allocated to water and sanitation.
  • By 2017/18 water supply service coverage was at 83% and sanitation service coverage at 6.3% for the urban areas.
  • The government of Burundi has encouraged community-led total sanitation coverage (CLTS), which allows communities to independently analyse the effects of open defecation in their community and work towards collective change.
  • AREEN has held dissemination workshops for the regulatory strategy and framework developed by ESAWAS to improve sanitation sector