Public-private partnerships for shared prosperity
How can cities integrate informal economic activity with urban planning to improve living standards while promoting growth? How can we blend private sector initiatives with public services and infrastructure to engender smart, sustainable approaches that tap the productive power of poor and marginalized communities? And how can such efforts be woven into the fabric of institutions, policymaking, and governance? In cities around the world, social sector innovators are looking to public-private partnership projects to provide an answer. Read on to learn about proposals and initiatives in Mumbai, Jakarta, Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, and Dhaka, and then join the conversation below. (This conversation is hosted in partnership with OECD on the occasion of the OECD Workshop on Inclusive Growth. Follow #inclusivegrowth on Twitter.)
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Incorporating rag pickers into city planning
Carlin Carr, Mumbai Community Manager
As the city sleeps, a small army of "green soldiers" hits Mumbai's streets. Wading through mounds of garbage outside apartment complexes, corporate parks, and retail outlets, the city's rag pickers — often among the poorest residents — separate out recyclable materials that would otherwise unnecessarily add to the over-burdened city landfills. The rag pickers recycle waste to sell to scrap dealers, carrying out one of the simple and doable practices in dealing with the city's alarming 9,200 metric tonnes of waste generated every day.
Yet Mumbai's municipal corporation has made little effort to incorporate the rag pickers into the city's system. "There is a great need for official support to this unappreciated activity that saves at least 10-15 percent in transportation costs daily to the city, adding up to millions of rupees a year," says Almitra H. Patel, Member, Supreme Court Committee for solid waste management.
Fifteen percent of Mumbai's garbage never gets collected, and only about 10-15 percent of the waste collected gets separated at source. This standard international practice of separating wet and dry waste before it heads to the dumping grounds would not only help rag pickers — who lose money on recyclable waste that has been dirtied and mixed — but would also help the city. Separating at source "could have helped the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) handle the city's refuse more efficiently — drastically reducing the amount that needs to be dumped at landfills, and promoting micro-management of waste at societies, schools and hospitals," says the first in a series of articles the Hindustan Times has recently dedicated to investigating waste management in the city.
Patel points out that other cities in India have managed to successfully incorporate rag pickers into the municipal system. In Ahmedabad, SEWA's rag picker cooperative, which celebrated 25 years in 2011, has organized weekly doorstep collections of dry waste and even has a hotline to ensure punctual collection. The collectors wear uniforms and members are trained to use office equipment as well. "The no-fee initiative provides waste-pickers with higher earnings due the higher-value clean and unmixed waste," says Patel. In Pune, a strong rag pickers union eventually partnered with the city to formalize their work. The workers go door-to-door collecting both dry and wet waste for a fee. The waste collectors have also been issued uniforms and safety wear, which, says Patel, is part of incorporating rag pickers into the city system.
She also suggests these other steps:
- Start a dialogue to learn the needs of this sector.
- Issue ID badges to street waste pickers (through NGOs or police, to prevent harassment).
- Provide rag pickers with sorting and storage space in a low area, such as below a flyover.
- Organize a doorstep pick-up service for post-sorting rejects to be taken away from slum houses or waste-buyer's yards, so that these do not end up clogging the storm-drains.
Separating at source is a waste management practice that the entire city should be taking part in. On a municipal level, Mumbai could follow in Bangalore's footsteps: the city has recently made the practice official policy. Citizens, too, would be motivated by daily collections of separated materials by professional-looking municipal waste collectors. Models are out there for Mumbai to follow; the city corporation needs to be proactive about drafting and implementing a comprehensive waste management plan that recognizes the activities already happening on the ground and working with their existing "green soldiers" to make the city greener and cleaner.
Photos: Martina Spies
Merebut Kembali Air Jakarta
Persentase rumah tangga yang mengakses air minum layak terutama di perkotaan mengalami tren yang terus menurun. Menurut data Biro Pusat Statistik 2011 pada tahun 1993 sekitar 50 persen penduduk di perkotaan memiliki akses terhadap air minum layak, pada triwulan 2011 persentasenya menjadi 40 persen. Hal ini tentu menjadi perhatian kita bersama apalagi di kota besar seperti Jakarta.
Di sisi timur Sungai Ciliwung, pada tahun 1998 rasio cakupan pelayanan hanya 52 persen. Pada tahun 2009, rasio cakupan pelayanan mencapai 59,67 persen. Meski demikian, peningkatan cakupan pelayanan tidak sesuai dengan target yang harusnya dicapai oleh kedua mitra swasta tersebut. Dalam konsesi awal target yang harus dicapai adalah 75 persen pada tahun 2008, target dilonggarkan setelah negosiasi menjadi hanya 68 persen. Meski sudah dilonggarkan, target tersebut tak juga mampu dipenuhi.
Adopt-A-Light
Enter Esther Passaris, part Greek, part Kenyan, brought up in the coastal city of Mombasa, who has spent the better part of a decade harnessing the power of Kenya's businesses to create projects with a positive social impact. Until her recent attempt to gain a seat as women's representative for Nairobi during the past Kenyan elections, Passaris was best known for spearheading the Adopt-a-light business model in Kenya.
There was also a problem related to access in the densely populated slums. This was overcome by involving community administrators and leaders in the planning process, who helped to identify ideal locations and also to coordinate the compensation of families that would have to be relocated as a result of the project.
Renovação urbana do Porto Maravilha: Trabalho conjunto dos setores público e privado
A participação privada no projeto está ainda em processo de consolidação. Tem sido de grande importância que a Prefeitura tenha desenvolvido um marco legal claro, um organismo executor misto e vários tipos de incentivos para a participação privada mais garantindo retornos importantes para os moradores do Porto Maravilha.
Inversión privada detona mejoría de la ciudad
El proceso de urbanización conlleva la sinergia de diversos actores para hacer frente a la demanda de las ciudades en rumbo hacia el desarrollo. Por ejemplo, la inversión del sector privado para la planeación y mejoría del desarrollo urbano. En este sentido, la Ciudad de México es evidencia de la participación privada que mejoró el transporte público y la movilidad de los capitalinos. A partir del año 2000 en el D.F. se abrió la puerta a la inversión privada y poco a poco se fue consolidando esta estrategia para atraer el capital privado a favor de la ciudad. En el 2008, el Gobierno del Distrito Federal incorporó una nueva figura de inversión: los Proyectos de Prestación de Servicios a Largo Plazo (PPS).
La Secretaría de Obras del Gobierno del Distrito Federal afirmó en el 2012 que los nuevos esquemas de inversión pública-privada (PPS) propiciaron un mayor avance en materia de infraestructura de los últimos 30 años, con un monto de 60 mil millones de pesos. El esquema de inversión permitió destinar recursos público-privados para consolidar el transporte público y la movilidad. Por ejemplo, se amplió la cobertura de la red del Metrobús, de 20 a 95 kilómetros y el carril se amplió de 40 a 134 kilómetros, mientras que se desarrollaron más de 70 estaciones y terminales. Similarmente, se construyó la Línea 12 del Metro, catalogada como la obra más grande de América Latina.
Government and private partnerships to empower girls through stipend incentives
After the Bangladesh independence war in 1971, many private actors, such as garment factories and educational institutions, played a significant role in developing Bangladesh's infrastructure and economy. In August 2010, the Policy and Strategy for Public Private Partnership (PPP) was issued by the Government of Bangladesh to assist the development of public infrastructure and services: "The PPP program is part of the Government's Vision 2021 goal to ensure a more rapid, inclusive growth trajectory, and to better meet the need for enhanced, high-quality public services in a fiscally sustainable manner." The PPP office was established under the Prime Minister's office to assist with the development of public-private partnership projects within international standards. In order to promote financial responsibility and sustainability of these public-private partnerships, the PPP unit was established under the Ministry of Finance. Thanks to these policies, public-private partnerships have indeed been effective in reducing the illiteracy rate in Bangladesh.
Conversation hosted in partnership with OECD
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Comments
Apertura inversión privada
Es importante destacar que en el caso de la Cd. de México uno de sus ejes fundamentales con respecto a la atención del desarrollo de infraestructura antes del año 2000, fue el rechazo a la inversión privada en la administración pública local puesto que la responsabilidad debía de recaer en su totalidad en el Estado. En este sentido, cualquier acción de las autoridades capitalinas que diera entrada a recursos del sector privado , se calificaba como “privatización2. Es hasta después que los gobiernos de izquierda neutralizaron esta corriente y abrieron las puertas a la inversión privada, institucionalizando una forma de asociación público-privada. En este sentido, más allá de hablar de una fusión de las responsabilidad y obligaciones de Estado con el sector privado, es de reconocer que esta figura promueve que las estrategias de desarrollo se implementen de manera más eficiente, efectiva y de calidad.
Public- private partnerships in Mexico City
Hi Maria Fernanda, in the introduction to your article you mention that some advantages of the public- private partnerships (PPP) established in Mexico City have generated the "empowerment" of different stakeholders, including civil society, the government and the private sector. I am very interested in learning what type of empowerment have these partnerships generated, especially within civil society.
In my opinion, PPP are established to mitigate risks in investments and also to promote more efficiency on the delivery of urban and social services. Never heard of empowerment as a product associated to such initiatives and would like to learn more about it!
Empoderamiento
Catalina, muchas gracias por tu comentario.
Como bien mencionas, las alianzas público-privadas en materia de infraestructura ayudan a eficientar la provisión de los servicios, así como una importante reducción de los riesgos en las inversiones por parte del gobierno. Una de las consecuencias en la implementación en México, mas no el objetivo de esta tipos de alianza, fue el empoderamiento de los ciudadanos puesto que participaron bajo la figura de la consulta ciudadana en las decisiones de gobierno. Desde que se abrió la puerta a la inversión privada en materia de infraestructura en el DF, los ciudadanos han expresado el interés y las preferencias respecto a la construcción de los segundos pisos y las líneas del metrobus, siendo parte de la toma de decisión; en este sentido la consulta ha sido un canal para que los ciudadanos se expresen y tomen ese medio para la fusión de sus intereses con la planeación urbana.
Nairobi and Mumbai wasteful partners in crime
Carlin your description of the failure on the part of Mumbai's municipal cooperation to harness the power of its waste pickers in order to provide an efficient recycling system strongly resembles the situation in Nairobi.
I have written about this in different ways twice over the past year. In June last year I wrote [http://urb.im/nr/120629pr] about how the Nairobi City Council drew up an Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan (ISWMP) and that one of its stated goals was that by 2013 they would restructure the collection of source-separated waste streams and sensitise and educate the city's population as to the importance of recycling.
So far I am yet to see a single leaflet, bilboard or TV add (ok I don't own a TV but I'm pretty sure there are none) that makes any such mention.
Earlier this month instead, I wrote [http://urb.im/c130311] about the homeless street boys and how their primary source of income involves trudging around the city, gunny sacks thrown over their shoulders, moving from waste bin to waste bin separating plastic, metal and glass from all the other waste.
What shocks me the most is not the Nairobi City Council. In almost three years living in this city I have not come to expect much from them and they definitely do not appear to have the street boys' best interests at heart. What does shock me though is that with all the hundreds of NGOs and charities that operate here (no data available as to the precise figures), no one has yet to the best of my knowledge, helped the boys raise the capital to buy, for example, a small motorbike with a cart behind it, with which they could access the residential areas and (maybe with the use of a leaflet or something) get Nairobi residents to give them their separated waste.
Undoubtedly people need to be sensitised, incentivised and possibly even (as I believe the Swiss do) penalised into separating their waste. But it doesn't need to be a huge investment. The economic benefits of having the waste seprated at the source surely outweigh the money and time it takes to separate it once it's all lumped together.... and, from a social point of view, helping the boys create cooperatives, giving them some minimal training in how to run a business, get a driving license etc. would resolve the problem of how to give the street kids a steady source of income.
Does anyone know of organisations around the world that do this?
Are the homeless in our other cities (Mexico City, Rio, Dhaka, Cairo, Jakarta) also the main recyclers? How does the municipal government include them into its solid waste schemes?
Waterfront Redevelopment
Catalina, I'm particularly interested in your article this week, because it discusses seafront development, one of the biggest shared assets of our two cities. Mumbai suprisingly has 149 kilometers of coastline that wraps around the peninsula city, giving the overcrowded megapolis an air of freedom on its edges. The BMW Guggenheim Lab describes the city's coastline in a recent blog post:
"It’s true—and many of those miles are currently much abused: clogged with garbage, stinking with water pollution, and generally abandoned by maintenance authorities. But with its oceanfront beaches, leafy mangroves, wetlands, mudflats, stunning carbon black rock outcrops, rivers and creeks, Mumbai’s immense shoreline holds the potential for a lot of public space and ecological restoration." The potential for waterfront redevelopment is huge in Mumbai, but it has run into many road blocks. In theory, what you've proposed seems to suit all parties, including those living along the edges; however, I wonder if there aren't some points of resistance. Are the communities that live there now interested in relocating? For example, many communities along the waterfront are fishing communities that would lose their livelihoods if they were relocated. What are some of the difficult points that the Rio project has had to navigate?
Waterfront Redevelopment
Carlin you raise very interesting issues on waterfront redevelopment. In the case of Rio, the Porto Maravilha project has been in the public agenda for quite a while, but only until the city was announced to be the host of the upcoming 2016 Olympic Games this project received greater attention and support.
The Porto Maravilha area is very close to the actual port, and right in this area there are no homes and/or people conducting fishing close by, so resettlement is not the main challenge in the Rio context. In my opinion, the greatest challenge of the Porto Maravilha project is that it really becomes a mixed-income site and that in the nearby future it doesn’t "expel" low income dwellers living close by. Another challenge is that all social investments that are supposed to take place in such site get done taking into account the community voice; and for this, the local government still needs to define clear channels of communication. Finally, a third challenge is that the revitalization process is conducted in such way that it preserves the magnificent historic buildings the port area once had. Hopefully the mix between the old and the new structures happens in a harmonic and integrated way.
Flavie Halais replied on Permalink
Porto Maravilha
I'd like to bring some nuance to your portrayal of the project. As I've written in past articles (http://globalurbanist.com/2012/12/18/porto-maravilha), Porto Maravilha's PPP scheme was diverted to shift the burden of developing costs onto taxpayers and therefore doesn't fit the definition of what a PPP stands for. Local populations have been neglected by the redevelopment (notably in the case of the Morro da Providência cable car) and the afro-brazilian heritage of the area is being largely ignored in favour of "high culture".
Insights on Porto Maravilha
Flavie, thanks for sharing your insights on Porto Maravilha. Actually just in the comment above, I pointed out some of the challenges of this ambitious project.
I just read the article you wrote on Porto Maravilha and it shows there are great challenges ahead especially for people living in Morro da Providencia, which is close by. Since you are researching about the effects of some projects in Rio, do you have concrete recommendations or ideas on how the revitalization of the port area should be carried out? We all know it is heavily deteriorated, but seems there are contested views on how to improve the area. What can be improved in the process? What should be the correct path? Hopefully you can share some of your views.
Tatat replied on Permalink
merebut kembali air jakarta
Halo,
Apakah ada perkembangan terbaru terkait dengan pengelolaan air di jakarta dibawah kepemimpinan Joko Widodo?
re: Merebut Kembali Air Jakarta
Hi Tatat,
Joko Widodo sejak resmi dilantik menjadi Gubernur enam bulan yang lalu pemerintah DKI Jakarta akan fokus pada rencana memenuhi target memberi akses air minum kepada 99% warga Jakarta. Di beberapa media Joko Widodo menyebutkan untuk memutus kontrak dengan kedua mitra swasta dalam penyediaan air bersih di Jakarta. Pilihan ini sesuai dengan desakan masyarakat sipil sekaligus mendorong pengelolaan air bersih kepada perusahaan negara. Pemutusan kontrak ini tentu berdampak pada denda yang akan dibayar pada kedua mitra swasta tersebut, meskipun jumlahnya lebih kecil daripada kerugian apabila kontrak tetap dilanjutkan. Ada juga pilihan untuk menyetujui penjualan 51% saham Suez Environment di PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (PALYJA) kepada Manila Water Company, setelah penjualan terjadi, harapannya negosiasi dengan pihak Manila Water Company bisa dilakukan. Kedua pilihan ini masih menjadi perdebatan.
Saúl Guarneros replied on Permalink
APERTURA INVERSIÓN PRIVADA
Estimada Fer, creo que la inversión privada es fundamental para el desarrollo económico, al igual que para el crecimiento. Sin embargo, cuando ésta se da a través de licitaciones poco claras como las últimas vistas donde entre hermanos se repartieron contratos, los sentimientos de la población (alguna parte de ella) siente cierto temor.
Qué mecanismos anti corrupción consideras (y consideran también los demás) se deben aplicar?
Open Contracting
Saúl, muchas gracias por tu comentario. Siguiendo las sugerencias de jfinlayson, te adjunto una liga acerca de Open Contracting, que es un mecanismo de monitoreo para llegar a la transparencia en las licitaciones públicas. http://15iacc.org/blog/2012/11/10/time-to-open-up-contracting/
Overcoming opaque bidding – anti-corruption options?
Saul - good question! Translating your post below.
Also advise looking at some of the resources for this conversation on open contracting:
the resources: https://strikingpoverty.worldbank.org/p121031
the conversation: https://strikingpoverty.worldbank.org/c121031
Saul's comment translated via Google Translate:
OPENING PRIVATE INVESTMENT
Dear Fer, I believe that private investment is essential for economic development, as well as for growth. However, when it is given via opaque bidding as the latest views where brothers divided between contracts, the feelings of the population (some part of it) feels some trepidation.
What anti corruption mechanisms consider (and also consider others) should be applied?
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