Challenges for public investment in sanitation in Brazil

ABSTRACT

This paper focus on the performance of the main programs of investment in sanitation within the scope of the GAP (Growth Acceleration Program – PAC) to show if scarcity of resources itself can explain the failure of such policy in the country, as supported by the current proposals to change regulation. Based on the data available in the Siga-Brasil database, and in the reports made by the existing accountability institutions, we were able to track the expenses of the projects and identifying the main difficulties which prevented them from succeeding. Based on the literature available, we could infer that the federal strategy focused mainly on financial incentive reduced the Union’s role as an agent of transferring of funds, instead of acting on the main structural problems of the sector, found in Brazilian municipalities and states. In that sense, it concludes that underfunding would not have been the cause, but rather a reflection of the obstacles faced by the Union’s strategy at the local levels, in which this policy is actually implemented. Finally, it recommends that we should think about new arrangements to reduce the transactional costs of the policy, especially now that cuts on public budget have interrupted the flow of investments to the sector.

KEYWORDS
Sanitation policy; Sanitation programs; Urban sanitation