EVALUATION ECONOMIQUE DES PERFORMANCES DES SERVICES D’EAU POTABLE ALGERIENS

Abstract

In Algeria, the delegation of production and distribution of drinking water to specialized operators implies the need for assessing the cost of these activities. This paper proposes a micro-econometric study of the cost function of the water supply with panel data, to assess the performance of drinking water services in Algeria. We take into account the characteristics of the water industry as a network, including the frequency distribution of potable water provision. The estimation of the cost function of water production can be used to evaluate first, the marginal cost of production and second, various performance measures (elasticities, economies of density of production, economies of scale, etc.) to provide useful information on the performance of drinking-water networks in Algeria.