Lagos moves to expand water access through public-private partnership

The Lagos State Water Corporation has announced a major push to expand access to potable water across the state through a public-private partnership (PPP) initiative aimed at upgrading existing infrastructure and improving service delivery.

The corporation disclosed this in a statement on Friday, noting that the plan is part of ongoing efforts to modernise Lagos’ water system and close the wide gap in household water access across Africa’s most populous city.

According to the statement, the development followed a high-level directors’ meeting held at the corporation’s headquarters in Ijora, where senior officials reviewed progress on the competitive bidding and concession framework for key water assets.

The corporation said a total of 23 bids were received across four project lots after a competitive procurement process that included technical assessments and financial evaluations of prospective investors.

It explained that the initiative is designed to attract private sector investment into the rehabilitation and expansion of water infrastructure, with the aim of improving operational efficiency and extending coverage to underserved communities.

At present, the corporation said it is only able to serve about 35 per cent of households in Lagos even when operating at full capacity, a gap the PPP arrangement is expected to help address over time.

As part of the reform structure, the corporation said it has standardised concession terms to a 20-year tenure, along with a unified five per cent royalty structure, which it described as measures introduced to ensure transparency, consistency and fairness in the process.

It also revealed that a performance framework containing 10 to 11 key performance indicators has been introduced to guide implementation and ensure measurable outcomes from the partnerships.

Among the targets outlined are achieving between 60 and 80 per cent water supply availability in the initial phase, reducing non-revenue water to below 25 per cent within seven to eight years, and progressively increasing daily supply hours across the network.

The corporation added that the framework also includes financial sustainability provisions such as cost-reflective tariffs subject to periodic review, foreign exchange protections, and performance-based incentives intended to attract credible investors into the sector.

It said governance and risk management structures have been built into the arrangement to protect public interest, ensure continuity of service, and maintain regulatory oversight throughout the concession period.

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The statement also noted that negotiations with preferred bidders would begin soon, with collaboration expected among relevant government agencies and regulators as implementation progresses.

The Lagos Water Corporation reiterated its commitment to ensuring reliable, sustainable, and equitable water supply for more than 20 million residents, stressing that the PPP model represents a key step in addressing long-standing infrastructure deficits in the state’s water sector.

It also recalled that the state government had earlier proposed concessioning seven mini and micro waterworks in areas including Lekki, Victoria Island Annex, Magodo, Abesan, and Apapa as part of a pilot phase of the wider reform programme.

The corporation said these facilities would be upgraded and managed by private investors with the technical and financial capacity to sustain operations and improve service delivery.

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