When municipal officials are investigating the existing policy context in relation to formal private sector participation, they need to consider where national government stands on a wide range of issues. These might include:
• whether private sector participation is considered a legitimate or desirable option (e.g., is a municipality required to prioritise the private sector option, or is it the least preferred option?);
• whether particular stakeholders are preferred (e.g., profit, non-profit businesses, micro-enterprises, etc.);
• whether a policy in relation to the poor has been established, and what this policy is;
• whether the government has a policy on competition;
• who sets the price and controls the tariff structure;
• how it intends to regulate the relevant sectors to achieve goals;
• which sectors are to be prioritised (e.g., water, electricity, solid waste management);
• which areas and functions are to be prioritised (e.g., bulk supply, reticulation);
• which organisational arrangements are favoured (e.g., bundling or unbundling);
• whether and how government sees linkages between private sector participation and other policy considerations (e.g., alleviating poverty, job creation);
• how private sector participation will operate within the institutional framework;
• what the opportunities are for piloting innovative approaches as yet untested by the government;
• which institutional reforms ensure policy development, regulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; and
• the resources that government is willing to allocate to implement its private sector participation policies.