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DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS IN THE DELIVERY OF URBAN SERVICES

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.

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DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS IN THE DELIVERY OF URBAN SERVICES

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  1. DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS IN THE DELIVERY OF URBAN SERVICES Presented by Dr. Kwabena Darko

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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).

  7. DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS IN THE DELIVERY OF URBAN SERVICES (cont’d) • Successful implementation of partnership requires: • 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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.

  12. 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.

  13. 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.

  14. 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.

  15. 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.

  16. 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.

  17. 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).

  18. 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.

  19. 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.

  20. 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.

  21. 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.

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