Involvement of Micro and Small Enterprises, an Option for Successful Solid Waste Service Delivery in Koforidua

The management of urban solid waste is one of the most serious environmental problems facing most African countries, including Ghana, and for that matter the local governments who are responsible for solving this problem.

However, being responsible does not require the government to perform the service with its own human resources and equipment. Government may choose to meet its responsibilities by involving the private sector to provide the service. Furthermore, Government may choose to arrange payment by requiring its residents to pay fees directly to the private sector or to commissioned collectors.

Private sector involvement in solid waste has several advantages, notably wider coverage, and improved reliability and quality of services. From the review of literature, it has been realized that, involvement of large scale enterprises especially in developing countries, is not always suitable. This is because large enterprises are most times not interested to provide services to low income areas due to low financial margins and the poor and inaccessible nature of such areas. Some studies indicate however that, MSEs are more flexible in dealing with low income areas.

It is in view of the above that, the research focused on MSEs and how they can be involved in the city of Koforidua in solid waste service delivery in a feasible and successful manner using Accra, the capital of Ghana as a case study.

The New Juaben Municipal Assembly (NJMA), in the Eastern Region of Ghana, which is the planning authority for the district, is faced with the problem of poor solid waste collection and treatment in the Koforidua urban area where several tons of refuse are generated daily. The effects of this is 40% of solid waste not collected in the city; lots of open dump sites and burning of garbage; difficulty in managing landfill site and using 20% local revenues for running and maintenance of solid waste vehicles alone.

Primary data was collected using self administered questionnaires and semi-structured interviews in Koforidua and Accra respectively. The research, focused on using the feasibility criteria by Chang, (2002) in terms of its acceptability, legality and its attractiveness to potential private partners to determine the feasibility of involving MSEs in solid waste service delivery in Koforidua.

The conclusions made from the assessment of Small scale private sector involvement in solid waste service delivery in Accra are that, the small scale local private operators have proved to provide good quality solid waste collection services at comparatively low costs leading to high levels of satisfaction among consumers.

In Koforidua, the necessary legal foundation exists. With regard to the acceptability of PSP, the public, organization and politicians indicated their willingness to co-operate with the private sector. It can also be said that, there is an interest from the private sector especially MSEs in solid waste service delivery.

However, in order to involve MSEs in solid waste service delivery in Koforidua, there is the need to consider the pre-conditions or supportive mechanisms for MSEs involvement in solid waste service delivery and also take into consideration the lessons learnt from the Accra experience.