The imposition of sewerage tariffs needs to be carefully thought out and based on a thorough study, as these could discourage low-income households from connecting to new sanitation services. Sewerage tariffs were proposed based on the “user pays” principle as one of two means to increase resources for the operation and maintenance of project facilities. However, sanitation services are overall viewed as a public good not suited to the "user pays" principle. Moreover, given the dire pre- project sanitation situation in South Tarawa, the principle may not work. Instead, the project initiators should have considered two sub-objectives: (i) ensure that connection to sanitation services is universal in areas where the project upgraded sewer infrastructure, and (ii) recognize that similar sanitation services need to be expanded to the whole of South Tarawa. Besides putting in question the efficacy of imposing any sewerage tariffs from a public health perspective, the economic conditions of the beneficiaries were not assessed, and no survey was conducted on their willingness to pay for the improved sanitation services.
South Tarawa Sanitation Improvement Sector Project