Institutional challenges to efficient governance: water, sanitation and wastewater in Egypt

International audience Recent contributions to network infrastructures pay increasing attention to the key role of ‘intermediate’ or ‘meso-institutions’ linking the level at which rules and norms are established and the level at which operators and users proceed. Building on these contributions, this article examines the institutional setting that underlies water, sanitation and wastewater services in Egypt. Referring to the OECD Principles on Water Governance of 2015 as a benchmark, it shows the impact on governance of biases and obstacles created by intricacies in roles and responsibilities spread over different meso-institutions. The analysis throws light on how inadequate institutional design might derail well-intentioned policies.