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The Efficiency and Institutional Performance of the Palestinian Water Service Providers

Received: 20 August 2017    Accepted: 1 September 2017    Published: 23 September 2017
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Abstract

The Palestinian Water Law 2014 calls for the amalgamation of the current water service providers into large regional utilities that are financially independent and have separate legal entities. This research, evaluates whether there are significant differences in the performance of the Palestinian water service providers based on their institutional structure and ownership. Thereafter, calculating the efficiency scores, in which the water providers may maximize the output for given level of input consumption. The multivariate analysis shows significant differences in non-revenue water, average price, and water consumption based on the structure. The water utilities perform better than municipalities when examining working ratio, gross profit, and collection efficiency. Wherein the Joint Service Councils have high sales price than utilities and municipalities; therefore, they are more profitable, more efficient in non-revenue water, and better in staff productivity. The results show more efficiency can be achieved during aggregation current water service providers into regional utilities. Amalgamating the providers into only four main water regional utilities – one in the north, middle, south, and Gaza will deliver less than current efficiency; and will double the cost or diminish half of overall output. Therefore, changing the current large and medium providers into regional utilities, and merging the current small providers into medium or large regional utilities will have more efficiency and capacity for improvement. Implications of these findings case by case through conducting further studies will add value for better merging efficiency and reforming process.

Published in American Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics (Volume 2, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajere.20170204.13
Page(s) 162-174
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Efficiency, Palestinian Water Law 2014, Performance, Regional Utilities, Structure

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Abdullah Murrar, Ahmad Sadaqa, Khalid Rabayah, Subhi Samhan, Abdelrahman Tamimi, et al. (2017). The Efficiency and Institutional Performance of the Palestinian Water Service Providers. American Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics, 2(4), 162-174. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajere.20170204.13

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    ACS Style

    Abdullah Murrar; Ahmad Sadaqa; Khalid Rabayah; Subhi Samhan; Abdelrahman Tamimi, et al. The Efficiency and Institutional Performance of the Palestinian Water Service Providers. Am. J. Environ. Resour. Econ. 2017, 2(4), 162-174. doi: 10.11648/j.ajere.20170204.13

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    AMA Style

    Abdullah Murrar, Ahmad Sadaqa, Khalid Rabayah, Subhi Samhan, Abdelrahman Tamimi, et al. The Efficiency and Institutional Performance of the Palestinian Water Service Providers. Am J Environ Resour Econ. 2017;2(4):162-174. doi: 10.11648/j.ajere.20170204.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajere.20170204.13,
      author = {Abdullah Murrar and Ahmad Sadaqa and Khalid Rabayah and Subhi Samhan and Abdelrahman Tamimi and Walid Sabbah and Ihab Barghothi},
      title = {The Efficiency and Institutional Performance of the Palestinian Water Service Providers},
      journal = {American Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics},
      volume = {2},
      number = {4},
      pages = {162-174},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajere.20170204.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajere.20170204.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajere.20170204.13},
      abstract = {The Palestinian Water Law 2014 calls for the amalgamation of the current water service providers into large regional utilities that are financially independent and have separate legal entities. This research, evaluates whether there are significant differences in the performance of the Palestinian water service providers based on their institutional structure and ownership. Thereafter, calculating the efficiency scores, in which the water providers may maximize the output for given level of input consumption. The multivariate analysis shows significant differences in non-revenue water, average price, and water consumption based on the structure. The water utilities perform better than municipalities when examining working ratio, gross profit, and collection efficiency. Wherein the Joint Service Councils have high sales price than utilities and municipalities; therefore, they are more profitable, more efficient in non-revenue water, and better in staff productivity. The results show more efficiency can be achieved during aggregation current water service providers into regional utilities. Amalgamating the providers into only four main water regional utilities – one in the north, middle, south, and Gaza will deliver less than current efficiency; and will double the cost or diminish half of overall output. Therefore, changing the current large and medium providers into regional utilities, and merging the current small providers into medium or large regional utilities will have more efficiency and capacity for improvement. Implications of these findings case by case through conducting further studies will add value for better merging efficiency and reforming process.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - The Efficiency and Institutional Performance of the Palestinian Water Service Providers
    AU  - Abdullah Murrar
    AU  - Ahmad Sadaqa
    AU  - Khalid Rabayah
    AU  - Subhi Samhan
    AU  - Abdelrahman Tamimi
    AU  - Walid Sabbah
    AU  - Ihab Barghothi
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    T2  - American Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics
    JF  - American Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics
    JO  - American Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics
    SP  - 162
    EP  - 174
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2578-787X
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajere.20170204.13
    AB  - The Palestinian Water Law 2014 calls for the amalgamation of the current water service providers into large regional utilities that are financially independent and have separate legal entities. This research, evaluates whether there are significant differences in the performance of the Palestinian water service providers based on their institutional structure and ownership. Thereafter, calculating the efficiency scores, in which the water providers may maximize the output for given level of input consumption. The multivariate analysis shows significant differences in non-revenue water, average price, and water consumption based on the structure. The water utilities perform better than municipalities when examining working ratio, gross profit, and collection efficiency. Wherein the Joint Service Councils have high sales price than utilities and municipalities; therefore, they are more profitable, more efficient in non-revenue water, and better in staff productivity. The results show more efficiency can be achieved during aggregation current water service providers into regional utilities. Amalgamating the providers into only four main water regional utilities – one in the north, middle, south, and Gaza will deliver less than current efficiency; and will double the cost or diminish half of overall output. Therefore, changing the current large and medium providers into regional utilities, and merging the current small providers into medium or large regional utilities will have more efficiency and capacity for improvement. Implications of these findings case by case through conducting further studies will add value for better merging efficiency and reforming process.
    VL  - 2
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Faculty of Graduate Studies, Strategic Planning & Fundraising, Arab American University Jenin, Jenin, Palestine; Tariff & Licensing Specialist at Water Sector Regulatory Council, Ramallah, Palestine

  • Faculty of Graduate Studies, Faculty Teaching Committee, Arab American University Jenin, Jenin, Palestine

  • Faculty of Graduate Studies, Faculty Teaching Committee, Arab American University Jenin, Jenin, Palestine

  • Research and Development Directorate, Palestinian Water Authority, Ramallah, Palestine

  • Faculty of Graduate Studies, Faculty Teaching Committee, Arab American University Jenin, Jenin, Palestine; General Directorate, Palestinian Hydrology Group, Jerusalem, Palestine

  • Faculty of Graduate Studies, Faculty Teaching Committee, Arab American University Jenin, Jenin, Palestine

  • Faculty of Graduate Studies, Faculty Teaching Committee, Arab American University Jenin, Jenin, Palestine

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