Wednesday, May 7, 2008, Rabi-ul-Sani 30, 1429    

Tremendous potential for private sector in municipal services

Staff Reporter

Islamabad—Water & sanitation and solid waste management sectors offer tremendous potential for private sector participation while bringing improvement in the quality of life of the citizens. This was the opinion of speakers and experts who addressed second day of the workshop on “Public Private Partnerships and Municipal Services” here today. Organized by Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF), in collaboration with Urban Unit Lahore, the second day of the Workshop focused on Water & Sanitation and Solid Waste management sectors. The Workshop was largely attended by representatives of the relevant public sector implementation agencies, federal, provincial and local governments and private sector stakeholders.
World Bank’s Consultant, Mr. Timothy F. Hunt in his presentations provided an overview of the requirements and issues facing private sector participation in the Solid Waste Management along with the lessons and experience derived from the global experience and their relevance and application to Pakistan’s local environment. In his presentations, Mr. Hunt highlighted pertinent issues which included legal and policy framework, public-private-partnership (PPP) potential of solid waste collection and transport, disposal/landfill, composting/energy generation.
In addition to Mr. Hunt, the panelists for the sessions on Solid waste management included: World Bank’s Senior Infrastructure Specialist Mr. Mihaly Kopanyi and Chairman Solid Waste Management Association Mr. Jamil Asghar Bhatti. The speakers underlined the importance of managing solid waste and measures that need to be undertaken to increase private sector participation in this sector. DSI Group (USA), Consultant Mr. David Stiggers, in his presentations, on Water and Sanitation sector highlighted the scope and potential of private sector involvement in the sector and provided a snap shot on global experience in this regard. The presentations also identified various pertinent issues in the sector including policy and regulatory framework and potential for PPP projects in water and sanitation.