The World Bank, as part of an ongoing program to support SEDAPAL in improving its operational and commercial performance, hired K&M to provide support to SEDAPAL in strengthening its financial performance. As part of this assignment, K&M supported SEDAPAL through workshops to develop an action plan to enhance SEDAPAL’s financial management. This action plan was developed as terms of reference for contracting services financed by a World Bank loan and constitutes one of the components of Component 2 of the Program.

K&M’s scope of work included the following:

1. Conducted a desk review of at least three years of SEDAPAL financial statements.
2. Carried out an analysis of key financial indicators and its benchmarking across other water utilities in Latin America.
3. Conducted an analysis of the current tariff structure.
4. Developed recommendations for the improvement of SEDAPAL’s financial management.
5. Prepared materials and analysis results for the client via virtual workshops.
6. Created part of the project appraisal document (PAD) to be included in the main text or annex describing SEDAPA’s financial areas of improvements and recommendations.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is a champion of the Regional Strategic Action Plan for Governance and Building Climate Resilience in the Water Sector in the Caribbean (RSAP). In support of the implementation of the RSAP, the IDB and K&M have prepared a report for publication on water utilities in the Caribbean. This report will serve as reference document and a key guide for prioritizing improvements needed by water utilities of the Caribbean. This report includes:

• Benchmarking of water utilities in the Caribbean
• The benefits of implementing non-revenue water (NRW) reduction projects
• Identifying the level of resilience of water utilities in the Caribbean
• Assessing the impact of COVID on water utilities in the Caribbean.

Under this contract, the K&M team processed new data provided by water utilities in the Caribbean, ensuring that the report is reflective of the most current data available.

K&M’s scope of work included:

• Processing new data from utilities
• Updating the database for individual utilities and consolidating the database
• Produceing new charts and figures
• Updating accompanying text in report
• Proofeading report for publication

The IFC contracted K&M Advisors LLC (K&M) to assess the feasibility and market opportunities for the implementation and operation of wastewater reuse projects to supply off-takers in CDMX. The team will conduct a market assessment to understand the potential demand for and supply of treated wastewater in CDMX and identify, contact, and survey the alternative off-take uses for treated wastewater in CDMX. Additionally, the team will develop a detailed analysis regarding the basic technical aspects of the implementation, including potential locations based on demand forecast for potential off-takers by types of water quality and location requirements. K&M will outline and evaluate the possible financial and contractual structures for the development of water reuse projects. The team will prepare a final report and lead a Workshop on key findings and recommendations for the IFC, World Bank and other external guests to be agreed with the IFC.

The IDB Group, through the assistance of K&M Advisors LLC (K&M) and Alliant Insurance Services (Alliant), has completed the initial development of the proposed Caribbean Water Utilities Insurance Company (CWUIC). CWUIC will be a mutual insurance company for water utilities in the Caribbean. In this phase of development, CWUIC’s main components, governance framework, potential sources of funding, and target members have been largely defined. As a result, the IDB Group plans to submit a proposal to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) requesting funding for CWUIC. Before the IDB Group submits the proposal to the GCF, it must define the entity—whether an existing one or one to be created—in which CWUIC will be established. The K&M team is advising the IDB on the best alternatives for establishing CWUIC

The National Water Commission (NWC) in Jamaica is working on a multi-year financial planning exercise. In support of this work, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) contracted K&M to develop an advanced, detailed, and dynamic financial model. To further support NWC in its multi-year financial planning exercise, K&M is providing capacity building and training to the NWC regarding the use of advanced simulations with the financial model. The K&M model will allow NWC to make detailed 10-year projections of the financial statements.

The IDB has contracted K&M to provide a report for publication on water utilities in the Caribbean. This report will include benchmarking the key operational and financial indicators for water utilities in the Caribbean, exploring the scope of benefits from implementing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) reduction projects, assessing the impact on COVID-19, and identifying levels of resilience to natural disasters. This report will also provide recommendation to governments and water utilities on actions they can take to improve performance and resiliency of water utilities. K&M will: • Benchmark the operational and financial performance of water utilities in the Caribbean. This will also include benchmarking access to water and sanitation, quality of service, operating efficiency, and affordability of tariffs.
• Complementing the work IDB has recently been doing to assist water utilities in the Caribbean with reducing NRW, we will highlight utilities that have had success in reducing NRW (for example, NWC in Jamaica, BWS in Belize, and WSC in The Bahamas) and show how that success has contributed to improved operational and financial performance.
• Describe the impact of COVID-19 has had on water utilities in the Caribbean, including an assessment of the impact on demand, revenues, collections, operating expenses, and liquidity.
• Detail the physical and monetary damages that water utilities in the Caribbean have incurred from natural disasters in recent years.
• Provide recommendation to governments and water utilities on actions they can take to improve performance and resiliency of water utilities.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) contracted K&M Advisors to develop financial simulations that have been used to assess the impacts of COVID-19 on water utilities in the Caribbean, and to identify measures and/or instruments that can be put in place in the short term to mitigate those impacts. The Ministry of Public Utilities (MPU) of Trinidad and Tobago has requested that a financial model and accompanying user manual be prepared by K&M Advisors specifically for Trinidad and Tobago’s Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA). In addition to modeling the impacts of COVID-19, this financial model will also consider the regulatory framework, economic structure, water and sanitation sector in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the structure of WASA. The financial model will be used to make strategic operating and policy decisions related to improvement of the utility and provide support the government in its re-negotiation of desalination contracts. In particular, the model will help WASA and the MPU prepare a plan to be submitted in November 2020 to cabinet level officials of the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

IFC has retained K&M Advisors to set up and manage a virtual data room (VDR) platform for the Shire Valley Irrigation Project, for which is IFC assisting with the procurement of the O&M contract and negotiation of water purchase agreements with off-takers. K&M is working closely with IFC to set up, manage and monitor activity within the VDR to help facilitate timely communication and information sharing with the bidders.

K&M was retained by Infilco to perform an evaluation of proposals for conformance to specifications regarding instrumentation and control requirements, on behalf of Infilico Degermont Co., for water treatment plant systems for the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity. The tender specification required provision of an advanced central distributed control system capable of simultaneously monitoring and controlling a raw water pretreatment system, a chlorination plant, demineralizer plant, waste water treatment plant, and controls from the pump house and water intake area.

K&M was the technical advisor and consulting engineer to KTI Energy and Resources Services, Inc., for a 5 million gallon per day water desalination plant and municipal waste-to-energy facility capable of generating 40 MW (net) for sale to the grid to be completed for the Defense Housing Authority in Karachi. This project was offered on a build-own-operate basis. The scope of services for the contract included the following: obtaining USAID/TDP grant-in-aid for the feasibility study, developing of the Preliminary Feasibility Report, assisting the client and its agents in conducting negotiations in Pakistan for power purchase and water supply agreements, assembling the financial package, participating in the development of the procurement documents, serving as the Owner’s Engineer for construction contract negotiations and construction and start-up period.