Assessment of capital expenditure in achieving sanitation-related MDG targets and the uncertainties of the SDG targets in Algeria

This paper studies sanitation policy in Algeria by conducting an assessment of the capital expenditure on sanitation improvements between 2000 and 2018. It focuses on the period of implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) between 2000 and 2015 and the first years of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from 2016 to 2018. The paper aims also to assess the level of subsidies for sanitation services in Algeria and the lack of full cost recovery. We then emphasise the idle capacity for wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the risks of wastewater discharge on public health and ecological integrity. Our methodological approach is multidimensional and based on a critical reading of reports by institutions responsible for the implementation of sanitation policy. We used water and sanitation data from the water authorities to evaluate the funding of the sanitation subsector and to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of this sub-sector. This study was also facilitated by semi-structured interviews with executive staff in water institutions responsible for the implementation of sanitation policy in Algeria. In the period studied (2000–2018) we find that the sanitation subsector benefited from a significant investment budget (or budgetary allocations) of nearly US$7.58 billion (in constant 1999 US$), representing 20.53% of the total budget allocated to the water sector. However, the low absorption capacity, estimated at 62.7% between 2000 and 2015, meant that the capital expenditure of achieving MDG target 7.C related to sanitation was US$4.38 billion (in constant 1999 US$) out of US$6.98 billion allocated for the same period. The study shows that the decline in real investment since 2009, with a funding gap that increased from 201.49% in 2015 to 385.56% in 2018, casts uncertainty on the fulfillment of SDG targets 6.2 and 6.3 related to sanitation. It is thus very difficult to meet the level of investment planned for 2030. It seems, therefore, that the SDGs will only be comfortably achieved if reforms towards the sustainable recovery of sanitation service costs are undertaken.