Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 17th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview V. Working Group on Public Sector Finance and Accounting Author(s) Agnieszka Kopanska University of Warsaw Warsaw Poland Title Public private partnership in water supply and sewage services in Poland. Analysis of possible application File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract The municipalities in Poland, reactivated in 1989, became responsible for the significant part of communal economy, including “ensuring the residents' of a municipality access to waterworks and water supply, sewerage system, the removal and treatment of sewage”. Water, according to “The Dublin statement on water and sustainable development” has been considered as an economic goods. Among others it means the necessity of setting its exploitation price that shall influence its use more effectively. But it also could be understood as an invitation for private companies to compete on (and for) this market. On the other hand, water is a precondition for human life, and the public sector need to be responsible for households access to water - so full privatisation of water services is difficult. The instrument which is suitable here is public-private partnership (PPP). Public private partnership is seen as a method of financing public infrastructure and also as a tool to increase efficiency of public services. Unfortunately cooperation between public and private sector is not easy and there are many impediments against positive effects of partnership. The theories and international studies of PPP in water sector do not give precise answer about efficiency of partnership in this particular area. The aim of planned article is to analyse if the Polish water sector is ready to use PPP, and what are obstacles and opportunities to receive positive effects of partnership in Polish water. To achieve this aim following will be studied: - the structure and condition of water companies in Poland, EU legal obligations which determine the future of water sector in Poland, - two cases of existing PPP in water sector- one where the private partner is big, international firm (Gdansk) and second where small local firm was employed by municipality (Piaseczno), - the results of questionnaires and surveys made in 2007 among Polish municipalities and its water companies.
