The Market Intelligence Crisis - Why Billions of Dollars Cant Find Water Projects Worth Funding

date
place
Wien 1 (Hybrid, FR-ESP-ENG)
theme
#6
organization
Athena Infonomics
country
United States of America
www
Innovation in water and sanitation services management
www
Enabling WOPs and operators
language
English

Summary

The global water sector operates under a fundamental contradiction: billions in capital seek deployment while 1 in 4 people lack safely managed drinking water, yet viable projects remain unfunded. This reflects not capital scarcity, but a market intelligence crisis that systematically excludes promising interventions while generating "fantasy pipelines" of non-viable projects.

The Scale of Disconnection
Current project preparation consumes 5-12% of total investment value before determining viability. McKinsey analysis reveals $30 billion in sunk costs from stalled infrastructure projects across six African markets. Simultaneously, the World Bank Group committed $117.5 billion in fiscal year 2024, while private investors hold over $328.9 billion in unallocated infrastructure capital.

Three Critical Failure Patterns
• The Cost Barrier: Market intelligence remains prohibitively expensive ($6 million studies for $50 million plants)
• Fantasy Pipelines: Master plans disconnect from payment realities (poor Nairobi households pay $0.40 daily—30% of income—while wealthy pay $0.02)
• The Development Finance Trap: Technical assistance cannot bridge fundamental market gaps, with 75% of water PPPs requiring renegotiation within 2.2 years

A Systematic Alternative
This session introduces standardized market intelligence combined with Water Operator Partnerships (WOPs) to build investment-ready utilities. Drawing from Athena Infonomics' Lagos market modeling, VEI's three-decade WOP methodology across continents, and IAWD's Southeast European cooperation experience, we examine how peer-to-peer capacity building transforms water sector investment.

Session Structure
Ninety minutes of structured dialogue across the full financing value chain—development finance institutions, utilities, governments, private operators, and technical partners—examining four questions:
1. What practical steps can actors across the WASH finance value chain take—together—to ensure water infrastructure is not only built, but sustained and functional over time?
2. How can ministries, regulators, financiers, and operators align earlier and more effectively in the planning and regulatory cycle to allow rapid opportunity identification?
3. How can partnership approaches such as WOPs (technical assistance) help accelerate early-stage opportunity identification and accompany effectively the implementation of investments?
4. What type of market intelligence would actually change investment decisions in the water sector—and who needs to generate it?

Expected Outcomes
Participants will assess whether standardized approaches can democratize market intelligence, making quality analysis accessible to utilities currently dependent on expensive external studies. The session examines why current approaches consistently fail and identifies implementable pathways forward.

Target Participants
Development finance institutions, bilateral agencies, commercial banks, water utilities, government

Objectives

1. Diagnose Market Intelligence Failures: Examine why billions in available capital cannot locate viable water projects despite global need, analyzing systematic failures in project preparation approaches
2. Challenge Investment Paradigms: Investigate why traditional infrastructure planning produces disconnected "fantasy pipelines," resulting in widespread PPP renegotiations and substantial sunk costs
3. Present Alternative Frameworks: Introduce standardized market intelligence combined with WOPs as systematic solutions for building investment-ready utilities and democratizing quality analysis
4. Enable Cross-Sector Exchange: Facilitate dialogue between financiers and implementers to surface barriers and identify solutions across geographic contexts
5. Generate Implementation Momentum: Develop concrete next steps for standardized assessments, strategic WOP deployment, and capacity-building approaches addressing utility readiness gaps
6. Establish Sustainable Pathways: Explore systematic funding for proven WOP methodologies, creating sequential investment approaches rather than expensive, isolated feasibility studies

Partners

Organization
Country
Athena Infonomics
United Kingdom
International Association of Water Service Companies in the Danube Region
Austria
VEI
Netherlands

Session panelists

Panelist
Role
Organization
Country
Mr. Joshua Bryant
WASH Markets Lead
Athena Infonomics
United Kingdom
Mr. Uchenna Ewa Uche
Senior Consultant
Athena Infonomics
Nigeria
Ms. Ardian Wiedilaksono
Reasearch and Business Development
VEI
Indonesia
Ms. Katerina Schilling
General Secretary
International Association of Water Service Companies in the Danube Region
Austria