Role of Contracts in Solid Waste Management Service Delivery: Case of Pune City Door to Door Collection Contracts Dipti Shinde 1 Prof.

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1 Role of Contracts in Solid Waste Management Service Delivery: Case of Pune City Door to Door Collection Contracts Dipti Shinde 1 Prof. Mona Iyer 2 Environmental Planner Assistant Professor Abstract: Rapid urbanisation is creating huge pressure on the available resources. Urban services are not the exceptions. Solid Waste Management (SWM) is one of the important urban services. With the limited resources and manpower possessed by Municipal Corporations, the required level of service delivery is not achieved especially in developing countries like India. Thus the role of private agency comes into picture and contracts are been allotted for managing the waste at different stages. Many times multiple contracts are also practised. One has to check the effectiveness of the contracts in order to understand its efficiency. This can be accomplished by evaluating them against some parameters relevant to service delivery, monitoring mechanism, institutional set up etc. If compared, the situation before and after contracting, one must expect to perform well. But many at times, these contracts fully or partially fails to perform. The main objective of having contracts in SWM is to enhance its service delivery from the Urban Local Bodies (ULB s) perspective which is still missing. In practice, measuring the efficiency throughout the entire process of SWM is not financially feasible for any local body or private agency since the parameters are not conceived during the inception stage. Hence bringing improvements at the project development/ inception stage of the SWM system is extremely important. The paper talks about the door to door collection contracts of Pune City, it s functioning and the issues & strengths related to its management process. Keywords: Service delivery, ULB, Private agency, Parameters, Contracts Introduction: Delivering the service in a systematic manner is the responsibility of the ULB. As the trend is towards privatizing the services, many variations are observed. One has to check whether the contracts are actually fulfilling its role for which they are made. Periodical monitoring plays a vital role in checking the status of the services contracted. Institutional set up plays an important role here, which specifies the responsibilities of both the parties at different levels. Thus it is necessary to formulate a set up which can function easily with fewer amounts of issues. Thus contracts can play a vital role in improving service delivery of SWM, as they are interlinked. The objectives of the study are, To assess Private Sector Participation in SWM in Pune Identifying strengths and weakness of each contract with respect to - Effectiveness of service delivery (performance indicators) - Monitoring mechanism - Institutional arrangement Strengthening the working contracts for better efficiency in Service Delivery Limitations: 1 Environmental Planner from CEPT University, currently working as an Environmental Planning Expert at GIDC. 2 Assistant Professor at CEPT University, pursuing PhD at CEPT University

2 Trend in SWM expenditure is not considered for selected case studies. Methodology: Methodology for the study includes the study of Pune Municipal Corporations on basis of field visit, primary surveys, focused group discussions 3, interviews with the officials and secondary literature. Through field visit of the city, the focus will be lying upon the door to door (DTD) collection of solid waste which included the types of contracts practiced, the issues pertaining to functioning of contracts and the strengths if any. Pune has been practising privatization in this area for past many years. The city is also trying different innovations and is implementing some best practices in all the components of SWM. Each of the present contracts are studies with respective to its functioning, strengths and weakness. The contracts will be evaluated with respect to key elements. The monitoring mechanism and institutional set up is also been evaluated in order to understand their importance in delivering effective service. Pune SWM Background: Population-35, 10,295 4 Area sq. km Zones-4 Administrative wards-14 (144 Electorate Wards) DTD- Private Agency SWACH, individual rag pickers and PMC Street sweeping- PMC & Partially privatized Transportation- PMC Treatment- Multiple Private Agencies Scientific disposal facility- Privatized For SWM, the data collected is in zone wise and also ward wise format. The door to door collection contract is been contracted to SWACH which is a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO). It is the institutional outcome of the initiative of the Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP). SWACH is allotted the Five years contract in 2007 without any tendering process. The workers of SWACH are been distributed throughout the city in form of Kothis. The whole hierarchy of the organisation is been well crafted and monitored. SWACH is collecting waste on door to door basis since In returns, workers are paid Rs.10- per household per month. Segregation is done by them while collecting the waste itself. PMC also runs their Ghantagadi s in all wards for collection. They also collect waste from bulk generators like hotels, restaurants, etc at a price of Rs per entity per month. Individuals/rag pickers also collect waste 3 Sample size for the focused group discussions was 8-10 persons 4 Population till 2009

3 from private societies and are paid Rs per household per month. Private collectors deposit the waste in PMC containers at different locations. Table 1 Coverage of door to door collection under each head and SWACH Coverage Wards Household coverage (%) No. Of Zones HH Covered SWACH * PMC Individual Supervisors rag pickers Aundh Zone Karve Road 1 (50.28% Coverage) Ghole Road Warje Karve Nagar Dhole Patil Zone Road 2 (46.29% 65 Yerwada Coverage) Sangamwadi Bhavani Zone Peth 3 (38.23% Kasaba Coverage) Vishram 80 Tilak road Sahakar Nagar 35 Hadapsar Zone (79.33% Bibvewadi Coverage) 100 (6.45 additional ) Dhankawdi SWACH Members Source- * Monthly coverage data from SWACH (Feb, 2011), discussion from PMC Officials Before contracting: PMC used to run Ghantagadi s throughout the city. All the vehicles were owned by the Corporation. Key points to be note are: Collection was earlier limited to the designated spots. Secondary containers were still prevailing. It is covering 55-65% of city household daily and around 1836 workers are been working under it.

4 The contract specifies the PMC to pay Operations & Maintenance (O&M) charges to SWACH % city is been covered by the PMC s Ghantagadi s. Shops, offices and other establishments are covered by SWACH & individual rag pickers. Individual rag pickers also collect waste from private societies covering 2-5% of the city waste. The handcarts, uniforms and other necessary equipments required by them are provided by PMC itself. PMC had special vehicles for collecting waste from hotels, restaurants, markets etc. Sometimes due to irregularity in collection of waste, citizens may directly dump waste to the secondary bins placed at regular intervals. After contracting 5 : After contracting, the coverage in terms of collecting waste increased. Segregation, frequency of collection and service user s satisfaction also increased along with the coverage. Considering all the activities under SWM, efficiency of each of them can be found out through key elements and users perspectives. The private agencies and ULB s perspectives are also important to know the improvements required in Figure 1 Segregation by Rag pickers the present SWM. The present issue and strengths are hereby then easily identified. Monitoring Mechanism: The working of rag pickers is been monitored by their ward wise Supervisors and by the Kothi In charge. Simultaneously, ward wise SI along with the Mukadams review the collection of waste. If any issue been identified, it will be reported to the ward officer and also to the Senior Supervisors of SWACH and would be solved through necessary meetings and discussions. Mukadams are regularly scrutinizing the working of SWACH and are reporting regularly to the Ward Officer. Issues in DTD Collection: Collection charges for door to door collection are not received regularly from slum dwellers. As per contract, the financial assistance to be given by PMC for initial five years is not as per schedule and paid late. The necessary instruments like push carts, buckets/tubs, uniforms, gloves, brooms, picks and other materials to be provided by PMC are less than requirement. Time lagging is seen in terms of cleaning the container areas and emptying it. Primary segregation is not achieved irrespective of regular awareness campaign etc. Strengths in DTD Collection: Separate department for SWM itself have solved related many major and minor issue. Time and money both are saved in decision making and implementing the decisions finalized. 5 SWACH Door to door collection Contract, PMC

5 Formalization of informal sector (rag pickers) for door to door collection of waste not only reduces burden of manpower required by PMC but also has given regularized source of income to the rag pickers. At source segregation done by rag pickers reduces the recyclable waste to be carried by PMC vehicles. Focused group discussion: The FGD s were aimed at knowing the views of the users and the providers for DTD Collection. The locations are decided in order to cover all the wards, as ward toward the level of service delivery varies. Sample size for the FGD s consisted of population between the age group of years, with average size of 5-8 persons. The findings of the eleven FGD s, location wise is summarised below, Table 2 Users perspective in Pune Locations Citizens remarks Percentage of satisfaction Pashan Daily collection by ragpickers and in More than 90% satisfied (Aundh): specified time only Less complaints Hadapsar Daily collection in some areas by ragpickers & rest on alternate days Ghantagadis are simultaneously collecting waste Dumping in waste containers practiced more Complaints if any are redressed online or through helpline More than 75% satisfied Kalyani Nagar Karve Road Collection done regularly by rag pickers in majority areas Direct dumping in waste containers also practiced Complaints if any are redressed online or through helpline Collection through Ghantagadis is more Direct dumping is practiced Require to increase door to door collection More than 70% satisfied More than % satisfied Rasta Peth Swargate (Sahakar Nagar) Ghantagadis collection is more Door to door collection is not regular Individual waste collectors are more Direct dumping in waste containers Door to door collection is daily except by rag pickers in few areas Overflowing of secondary bins should be checked More than % satisfied More than 70% satisfied

6 Sinhagad Road Pune University Yerawad (Slum) Door to door collection is daily ragpickers Ghantagadis are not regular Dumping in secondary bins preferred but overflow should be checked frequently SWACH completely handling collection, transportation & treatment Garbage directly thrown in secondary bins Should not charge money for door to door collection -70% are satisfied with service 90-95% are satisfied with service Percentage of Persons satisfied Hadapsar Pashan Sinhagad Rd Kalyani Nagar Karve Nagar Rasta Peth Sahakar Nagar satifaction level (%) SWACH PMC Individual rag pickers not collected Figure 3 percentage of persons satisfied Figure 2 DTD Collection of waste in Pune Agency ULB s Private Agency Table 3 ULB's & Private agencies perspectives of Pune Perspectives Planning to reduce the secondary bins Improvising & increasing the door to door collection Pay for service by citizens should increase Citizens should segregate waste To increase the coverage in city Regular payment should be done from the households Citizens should segregate waste From the FGD s the following conclusions can be interpreted, From the graphs, it is clear that citizens from Pashan (Aundh) are more satisfied with the service which is been provided by SWACH. The coverage percentage is been taken from the SWACH February 2011 record Conclusion: The status of MSW before and after contracting can be summed up in the table below, Table 4 Component wise assessment Component Aspects Before contracting After contracting

7 Door to door collection Level of segregation Less More Coverage Less More Service satisfaction Medium High Manpower Low High In the above table, it is clear that after contracting the SWM status has been improved. These conclusions are arrived from the discussions with all the stakeholders involved in SWM activity. Contracting has been beneficial to improve the service delivery, awareness and increased the level of satisfaction among the users. Overall, contracting has improved the SWM in Pune and efficiency in managing it. From the users perspective if considered then, the difference before and after contracting is as follows, Aspects Before contracting After contracting Working efficiency B A Cleanliness B B+ Participatory process C A A+ Excellent, A Very good, B+ Good, B Fair, C Poor Before and after contracting comparison with respect to the mentioned aspects is done in order to understand the improvement in these areas. While contracting, ULB s and the Private Agencies should give due importance to the working efficiency, cleanliness and public participation and include them in contract clauses. The rating of each of the parameters is been done on basis on authors understanding through field visits, meetings with the officials and discussions with the stakeholders. Depending upon it, overall rating is been done. These parameters would guide and monitor the service provided by the agency and also help in achieving expected service delivery. For the improvement of present contracts some of the learning through best practices study is incorporated component wise. References: Asnani, P. (2006). India Infrastructure Report, Solid Waste Management. Cointreau-Levin, S. (1994). Private Sector Participation in Municipal Solid Waste Service in Developing Countries. Urban Management Programme by World Bank. Darshini Mahadevia, A. P. (2006, February). Centralised and decentralised solid waste management practices in Bangalore. working paper no. 41. Ahmedabad, Gujarat: School of Planning, CEPT, Ahmedabad. Jeanne Wolfe, D. M. (2008). Solid Waste Management in India: an overview. In Solid Waste Management in Indian cities: Status & Emerging practices (pp , 50-75). Concept Publcation Company. Kumar. (2005). Solid Waste Management in India: Present Practices and Future Challenge. Kumar, S. (2008, April 14). Assessment of the status of Municipal solid waste management in metro cities, state capitals, class I cities and class II towns in India: An insight. Retrieved from PMC. ( ). Environment Status Report. Pune: Pune Municipal Corporation. (2006). Solid Waste Management in India. World Bank. Srinivasan, K. (2006). Public, Private and Voluntary Agencies in Solid Waste Management. Economic and Political Weekly.