Abstract

MAZA AVILA, Francisco Javier; NAVARRO ESPANA, Jorge Luis  and  PUELLO PAYARES, Joaquín Guillermo. Was there an efficient allocation of funds for drinking water supply in the state of Bolivar, Colombia, in the period 2007-2008. Entramado [online]. 2012, vol.8, n.1, pp.58-70. ISSN 1900-3803.

Article 365 of the political constitution of Colombia states as follows: "Public utilities are inherent to the social objectives of the state. It is the responsibility of the state to ensure efficient provision of these services to all citizens in the national territory....". In the case of drinking water and basic sanitation, the responsibility for seeing to the efficient provision of services falls on the municipal and departmental agencies, which finance these works with government funds from the general participation system in accordance with the provisions of Law 715 of 2001. The purpose of this paper is to review efficiency in the provision of drinking water supply to people in 45 municipalities in the state of Bolivar, Colombia, in the 2007-2008 time period, based on a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) using information about total investment in drinking water and the monthly average of hours of service supplied by each territorial agency to the National Planning Department (DNP, for its Spanish acronym). The results of the review of that period reveal that fewer than 20% of the municipalities in Bolivar have met the minimum threshold of efficiency.

Keywords : Public utilities; drinking water and basic sanitation; efficiency; Data Envelopment Analysis.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )