Basic services

With the constant influx of urban residents, pressure on already limited resources is compounded. Scarcity of land and housing is worsened with overcrowding, employment harder to find due to unreliable transport networks, and health severely compromised through unsafe water and sanitation.

Almost 1 billion urban dwellers have no access to a secure water or sanitation supply, the health costs of which are huge. An estimated 1.6 million urban residents die each year due to lack of clean water and sanitation, with scores more suffering long-term illness and disability. This is not only costly for the health sector, but also has financial implications for residents themselves; lack of secure access means they often end up paying more to private suppliers than their richer neighbours for poorer quality services. The same can be said for electricity supplies. There has been progress in this area, however, since the introduction of successful public-private partnerships and community-driven initiatives.

The lack of a reliable, cost-effective transport service further reduces the availability of educational, social and livelihood opportunities. Some urban communities access services through grassroots action or private enterprise – the private sector having demonstrated its importance in this field. However, poor road quality, few, if any,  bus stops and the physical dangers arising from competition, mean that the needs of the urban poor are rarely met.