posted on 2018-02-12, 15:08authored byA.K.M. Nurul Islam, H. Kitawaki, M. Habibur Rahman
This paper is a sociocultural case study of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, on the willingness to pay/use for water supply and sanitation. “Willingness to use” is a relatively new concept which can be defined as the maximum amount of desire one can willingly express for a certain commodity or service. Many technical, institutional, financial and legal factors determine the willingness
to use. Affordability combined with willingness to use leads to willingness to pay. The low “willingness to
pay/use” is one of the reasons behind the unproportional success rate of much of the national and international
efforts undertaken for safe water supply and sanitation. However safe water supply and sanitation is an urgent
need in Bangladesh where the number of water borne diseases cases per 100,000 persons is 51,000, much higher
than other developing countries (WHO, 1992). One of the causes behind this alarming situation is low willingness
to pay/use. Along with a brief description of the present situation in Dhaka city, efforts are taken to identify the problems behind the low willingness to pay/use for water supply and sanitation in light of the sociocultural aspects. This may provide useful information for other developing countries. Some improvement strategies are also proposed.
History
School
Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Research Unit
Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)
Published in
WEDC Conference
Citation
NURUL ISLAM, A.K.M., KITAWAKI, H. and RAHMAN, M.H., 1994. Willingness to pay/use for water supply and sanitation. IN: Pickford, J. et al. (eds). Affordable water supply and sanitation: Proceedings of the 20th WEDC International Conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 22-26 August 1994, pp.80-83.
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