Governance and Economic Performance, Delegated Public Drinking Water Services in the Municipality Of Dassa-Zoume (Benin)

The delegation of management of water services is part of an alternative logic to the community management model of drinking water supply networks. This method of managing water services is faced with numerous irregularities in the municipality of Dassa-Zoumé. This research analyzes the mode of governance by delegation of water services with a view to determining its performance indicators. The method used is based on data collection from 50 delegatees (public and private), 50 households from user associations and 10 resource persons. The data collected was processed and the results obtained were analyzed with the SWOT model. Results show that 298 FPMH and 6 AEV are delegated to public and private operators. The delegation of AEV is made to private operators through the afterimage contract. On the other hand, simple works are delegated to natural and legal persons. The latter are called upon to pay a monthly sum of 5,000 F to the town hall. The analysis of the operating account of the private delegates showed that the income from the sale of water amounted to 13,903,784 FCFA in 2017. They fell to 12,141,526 FCFA in 2018 before falling to 13,830,386 FCFA in 2019. With its receipts, the term of extinction of debts and renewal of works is 17 years for AEV and 200 years for FPMH. The delegation of the water service is confronted with structural problems such as, the lack of intervention of the private sector in the field, the ignorance of the logical framework of intervention of the actors, the vagueness maintained in the granting of the market to the private one which no longer obliges the delegatee to properly complete their specifications. A situation which explains the high cost of water to users. This way of managing the water service is an opportunity for its sustainability.