Developing understanding of the economic value that communities ascribe to improved operations and maintenance (O&M) services has emerged as a key factor in achieving financial sustainability for rural water systems. The present study elicits household willingness to pay (WTP) for improved O&M services in eight gravity-fed water schemes in Idjwi Island (Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC). A contingent valuation survey was implemented through an open-ended format questionnaire to 1105 heads of household and a log-linear regression model was employed to assess the factors influencing higher values. Findings show an average willingness to pay of 327 Congolese Francs (CDF) per month and 36 CDF per bucket. Results also indicate a significant WTP differential among studied schemes. The analysis of the conditioning factors reveals that the level of excludability, the participation in management meetings and the time employed in fetching water from an improved source are contingent with their WTP. The findings of this study are important for development agents trying to establish acceptable, affordable and practicable tariffs that help finance reliable rural water systems in Idjwi.

Configuration Management (CM) is the scientific discipline that ensures that all the parts that a company has, regardless of their nature: HW, SW, FW..., are known and controlled throughout their life cycle: any modifications to these parts are known and traced

A transport business that has reached financial sustainability is one that is providing a service at a price that not only covers its costs but also creates a profit for upcoming contingencies. A focus on rail infrastructure financial sustainability is of paramount importance to guarantee the availability of punctual rail transport to remote potential users. To evaluate the sustainability of mass rapid transit on the relation among hypothetical key aspects of sustainability—perception of property; willingness to pay for maintenance, repair, and operations; confidence in the Roads and Transport Authority; and citizen participation in the rail project—and railway service punctuality, the most important result variable, was studied according to the specialized literature on rail transport sustainability. Leading information was collected by means of personal questionnaires of more than 1000 railway users according to the Krejcie Morgan formula for the calculation of the sample size knowing the population size. Qualitative plus quantitative information was gathered from different ways (technical test of the rail system, discussions with users, focus-group discussions, and interviews with key informers).The outputs by means of the statistical analysis allowed understanding two key perceptions. Firstly, beyond a half decade after construction, during a system intervention, a smaller perception of public property for the railway system was related to better service punctuality. This idea contrasts with the vast majority of the publications, which highlight a regular, direct relationship between perception of property and sustainability of railway systems. Secondly, in spite of three-quarters of users accepting that they would contribute monetarily for maintenance, repair, and operations service, such payments were not imminent because of the lack of confidence in the Roads and Transport Authority. In this situation, more than one-third of the metro stations were identified as non-punctual, beyond a half decade after construction.

Getting to know the price that users assign to maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) has arisen as an essential consideration in gathering financial sustainability for metro public transport systems. The current research reveals customer reservation price for MRO in the main metro stations in Qatar. The purpose of the present work is to assess the willingness to pay for MRO services in eight metro stations in Doha in order to have a better understanding of user preferences. Qualitative research was carried out employing primary and secondary source of information. Primary data was collected by means of a mixture of data accumulation approaches: key informant meetings and focus-group conversations. Secondary data was collected from the account books, contracts, recordings of trans-actions, statements of work and activity reports given by the local rail committees. A stated preference investigation was applied through open text format questions to more than 1000 customers, and a Poisson regression model was used to evaluate the considerations affecting every higher value. Outputs reveal normal customer reservation prices per month and per train journey. The results also indicate a significant willingness to pay differential among the studied railway stations. The study of the decisive considerations elicits that the degree to which the MRO service can exclude paying consumers, the attending of rail conferences and the possibility of using another rail station are related with the customer reservation price. The outputs of this research are significant for railway public authorities willing to set up reasonable, adequate and realistic fares that support fund competent railway systems in Qatar.

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