Rajonalizimi i shoqërive të ujësjellës-kanalizimeve: eksperienca ndërkombëtare dhe rasti i Shqipërisë
Regionalization of water supply and sewerage companies: international experience and the case of Albania

Summary/Abstract: The decentralization of service delivery of water supply and sewerage to the local government has created challenges in terms of management as well as financing. Local authorities often do not have adequate capacity to serve a larger number of citizens and they have difficulties in obtaining funding necessary to maintain the water and wastewater networks and carry out the necessary investments. The situation is more difficult for those municipalities that provide services to a large number of customers. In Albania currently operate 58 water and/or sewerage and their performance is far from international standards. One way of resolving this situation is aggregating several water and sewerage utilities and creating regions otherwise known as regionalization. This process has occurred both in developed and developing countries. The main reason for regionalization is to achieve economies of scale by serving a large number of customers and the possibility of access to private sector funds, or funds from international institutions, who are encouraged to fund, based on the argument of achieving economies of scale. The purpose of this paper is to review the theoretical literature and international experience that supports regionalization together with factors promoting the initiative, as well as respective obstacles. The final aim is finding out whether there is a unique regionalization model and to build a model that fits the case of Albania. For the purposes of this paper many case studies will be analyzed that include both developing and developed countries. The results of this paper are aimed for the Government to show solutions to improve sector performance and increase private sector participation.

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