Transcript Document 7865566

DEVELOPING
PARTNERSHIPS IN THE
DELIVERY OF URBAN
SERVICES
Presented by
Dr. Kwabena Darko
DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS IN THE
DELIVERY OF URBAN SERVICES
• Cities in Africa are growing at an
unprecedented rate.
• Urban growth continues to be
accompanied by an alarming increase
in the number of people living in
poverty.
DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS IN THE
DELIVERY OF URBAN SERVICES (cont’d)
• African governments are finding that
their existing water, sanitation, and
energy infrastructures are unable to
service their
rapidly
expanding
populations.
Also,
their
limited
financial resources are not sufficient to
cover the needed expansion of these
services.
DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS IN THE
DELIVERY OF URBAN SERVICES
(cont’d)
• New approaches to addressing these
problems that involve collaboration
among an increasing number of
stakeholders are urgently needed.
Public-private partnerships are one of
the most promising forms of such
collaboration.
DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS IN
THE DELIVERY OF URBAN SERVICES
(cont’d)
• The term “public-private partnership”
(PPP) describes a spectrum of possible
relationships between public and
private actors for the cooperative
provision of infrastructure services.
The only essential ingredient is some
degree of private participation in the
delivery of traditionally public-domain
services.
DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS IN
THE DELIVERY OF URBAN
SERVICES (cont’d)
• In this context, private actors may
include private businesses, as well
as non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) and community-based
organizations (CBOs).
DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS IN
THE DELIVERY OF URBAN SERVICES
(cont’d)
Successful implementation of partnership
requires:
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•
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•
•
Strong political commitment;
Rigorous management;
A high degree of technical skill;
Careful attention to the concerns of stakeholders;
Transparency and fairness;
Listening to prospective private sector investors to
find out their concerns about the local environment
and their ideas about what is possible.
DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS IN THE
DELIVERY OF URBAN SERVICES (cont’d)
From government perspective, establishing a
good partnership requires:
• Defining the government’s future roles and
responsibilities;
• Ensuring that the monitoring and regulatory
frameworks are in place;
• Working out exactly what risks and responsibilities
the government will retain once the arrangement is
in place;
• Determining how it intends to manage them.
DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS IN THE
DELIVERY OF URBAN SERVICES (cont’d)
Private sector is seeking a fair rate of return,
over a period that allows the business to
recover its investments. This requires:
• A well-specified contract;
• Consumer willingness to pay (and the ability
to enforce payment);
• Credible, stable regulatory arrangements;
• Mechanisms for handling risks beyond the
utility’s control.
HO CASE STUDY
• Ho serves as both the district
capital of Ho District Assembly
and the regional capital of the
Volta Region of Ghana.
• It has a population of about 68,000
people.
• 62% of the houses in the
unplanned settlements do not have
toilets.
HO CASE STUDY (cont’d)
• Assembly used to operate and maintain
public toilets until 1992 when the sanitary
conditions began to deteriorate.
• Increasing demand for the provision of
other services was putting greater pressure
on the limited finances of the Assembly.
• In 1993, Assembly began to charge a user fee
which was to be used to rehabilitate and
maintain the toilets.
HO CASE STUDY (cont’d)
• Due to corrupt practices of Assembly
revenue collectors at the toilets, limited
revenue was raised to improve toilet
conditions.
Conditions
of
toilets
deteriorated.
• The Assembly decided to transfer the
management of the toilets to the eight
communities where the toilets were
located.
HO CASE STUDY (cont’d)
• The communities formed Management
Committees to operate and maintain the
toilets.
• The Management Committees were to
collect fees approved by the Assembly for
the operation and maintenance of the
toilets.
• There was however no formal agreement
transferring the toilets to the communities.
HO CASE STUDY (cont’d)
• From
1995,
the
Management
Committees refused to pay the monthly
fees to the Assembly claiming low
proceeds.
• The low proceeds were traced to
corrupt practices of both collectors and
some committee members. Sanitary
conditions continued to deteriorate.
HO CASE STUDY (cont’d)
• The Assembly decided to involve
private sector participation by putting
to open tender the bid for the operation
and maintenance of the toilets. It was
hoped this would ensure competition
and improvement in the management
of the toilets.
There was Fierce
resistance
from
management
committees.
HO CASE STUDY (cont’d)
• Private sector participation has
been implemented in four of the
eight communities. Toilets in these
four communities very well
maintained. People in the other
communities
(without
this
arrangement) go to use these
toilets.
HO CASE STUDY (cont’d)
• The Ho District Assembly provides the
regulatory
framework
for
the
partnership.
Issues affecting the
partnership are referred to the Public
Toilets Management Select Committee
of the Assembly which reports directly
to the executive Committee (which is
responsible for the executive and
administrative
functions
of
the
Assembly).
HO CASE STUDY (cont’d)
• The Public Toilets Management Select
Committee does not have regulatory
powers.
These are vested in the
Assembly. The Select committee only
serves as a liaison between the private
partners and the Assembly. It also
advises the Assembly on policy issues.
HO CASE STUDY (cont’d)
• The performance is measured in
relation to:
• standards and targets stipulated in the
proposals submitted by the private
partners
• negotiated standards and targets as
contained in the agreements signed by
the parties.
HO CASE STUDY (cont’d)
• All four partners have been paying
promptly their rents to the District
Assembly.
• Management committees which
are still managing the other 4
toilets do not pay any rent to the
Assembly.
CONCLUSION
• The case study shows clearly that private
participation in the provision of public
services can result in better service
delivery.
• Private sector participation in public
services succeeds when the conditions of
the participation are clearly stated and
the standards and targets are known to all
the parties.