National 7 (Spotlight Weekly)

Turning The Clock Back

KMC's decision to stop recruiting private agencies for waste management could undo the limited success it had achieved till now

By DEWEN RAI

Even as the rest of the world has started realizing the benefits of privatization, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has reversed its policy of allowing private agencies to collect garbage following the agitation by its sanitary workers.

The sanitary workers of KMC earlier this month staged sit-in program demanding to expel what they called arbitrarily recruited staffs at KMC and not to allow contractors work in waste management. It took them merely three days to compel the management into bowing to their demands - simply by staying away from work.

Garbage in the city : Health concern

The mounting accumulation of uncollected garbage at the city thoroughfares generated much more heat than the KMC was prepared to handle. Consequently, they relented.

With the growing population, the city suffers from a severe problem of garbage mis-management. According to Environment Department at KMC, the total waste generation in the city is approximately 400 metric tons per day. It includes domestic, street, commercial wastage and wastes generated from neighboring cities and VDCs. The record shows that the average waste collection is approximately 350 metric ton per day of which 25 percent were being collected by private agencies and contractors.

The decision to restrict the private agencies in garbage collection could trigger extreme problems in the country. Coming at a time when the monsoon is in the full swing, any lacking in the waste management is likely to have enormous public health impact.

Till 1994, the KMC sought the aid of German project GTZ in sanitation. After the project was over, KMC sought for other ways. It allowed private sector involvement in waste management and sanitation some five years ago. There are five private parties involved in the collection of garbage at present. They are mostly active at Naxal, Kalanki, Swayambhu and Wotu areas of Kathmandu.

Murari Subedi, office manager at Siltes Environmental Services Pvt. Ltd., which engages in garbage collection in ward no 13,14, and 15 claims that they had made a considerable difference in the state of sanitation in the area. "We are working more effectively these days" he asserted. "I don't think KMC alone will be able to work as good as we have been doing."

After the KMC's latest decision, the private agencies now can work only up to the period for which they have already signed agreement. Once their contract expires, they will not be able to renew them. The decision has come into effect from the month of July. "The management has not informed us formally." Subedi said.

Subedi said that his contract would expire a year later. Seventy persons used to work in his agency alone. They visit door to door collecting garbage whereas KMC merely places containers for accumulating the rubbish alongside the road. The containers are also not properly managed and are found emanating stench in the surrounding. People living at a distance from the road prefer to throw the garbage all around the localities.

Shantaram Pokharel, acting head of Environment Department also agrees on the effectiveness of private participation in sanitary program. "Since they have business purpose, they cater better service to the public." He said that the workers in the municipality are sufficient for the work.

Previously, the decision to involve private sectors in sanitation was made with the aim of curtailing the expenditure and making sanitation program effective. And the scheme really worked. After five years, the management withdrew the decision when the elected local body is not functioning.

On the other hand, if nobody else, the 1200 workers of the KMC have welcomed the decision. "The earlier policy (of using private sector) was no good to us," Ram Pode, president of Nepal Independent Garbage Cleaner's Union comments. He reluctantly confessed that their service is not as effective as that of private sectors.