Public Private Partnership in Sustainable Solid Waste Management: A case of Madhyapur Thimi

Abstract

Sustainable solid waste management through Public Private Partnership(PPP) projects have been initiated in the municipalities of Nepal in recent years. PPPs combine the skills, knowledge and resources of both the public and private sectors through appropriate sharing of risks, rewards and responsibilities. This research explores roles and responsibilities of the major stakeholders of PPP and how they are working collaboratively to manage solid waste sustainably in Ward 4 of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality. The municipality has initiated best practice of waste management through composting done at Rikishi Compost Pvt. Ltd. This research emphasizes on private sector participation for sustainable practices in waste sector to reduce waste to landfills and create opportunities. Resource recovery has the capacity to reduce financial, environmental and social burdens on the municipality and even unlock new revenue streams. The various enabling and constraints factors for the successful operation of the project were studied through perception of local government, private party and affected households. In addition, the study examined case studies with good practices of SWM through PPP model, reviewed PPP policies and SWM policies focusing on private sector participation for turning waste to valuable resource. The study finds that peoples’ participation, monitoring, training and awareness program for segregation at source is not conducted on regular basis. The service user lack awareness about benefits of waste recovery projects. The local government lacks proper monitoring and feedback mechanism, financial investment and land for the expansion of the project to larger scale. The private company faces difficulty to compete in the market in absence of subsidy to the recovered product, inadequate supply of segregated waste and lacks continued political support. Based on the analysis, strategies for improving enabling environment for successful implementation of PPP in sustainable SWM have been explored.