City Hall to set garbage fees in waste disposal plan

What you need to know:

The county government has zoned the city into a cluster of estates and each region will be manned by a single firm in what is set to lock out many private garbage collectors in the sector.
It says it will set the rate at which the private firms will charge households based on income levels of residents.

City Hall plans to streamline private garbage collection in Nairobi, setting up areas of monopoly for some private firms and determining the fees they can charge.

The move is set to lock out many private garbage collectors in the sector and spark controversy about the county's failure to provide the services itself.

The county government has zoned the city into a cluster of estates, each to be manned by a single firm.

Rates will be based on the average income levels of residents in a given area.

“We have a charging regime that has set the fees according to the economic class,” Dr Leah Oyake-Ombis, the county's director of environment, said yesterday.

A pilot for the project will start in August in Kilimani, Kangemi and Kileleshwa, which have been clustered in a region dubbed zone seven. City Hall has started the process to issue the tender for this zone.

Kilimani and Kileleshwa households will pay between Sh500 and Sh750 per month while those in Kangemi will pay Sh150.

City Hall plans to have the entire city covered by 2016. Currently, private contractors negotiate deals and pricing directly with households, which also pay the city for the service. Zone seven had 37 private garbage collectors.

City Hall had earlier signed a deal with a private firm, Creative Consolidated, to collect refuse in the city centre.

READ: Nairobi kicks out garbage collection firms from CBD

Nairobi County is preparing a Solid Waste Management Bill to guide the collection of garbage in the estates by private sector players contracted by City Hall. The Bill will raise the fine for illegal dumping of garbage to Sh40,000 from the current Sh2,000 in a fresh attempt to clean up the city.

The rapid population growth and the expansion of Nairobi have made it difficult for City Hall to make the city clean, paving the way for the private sector service providers.

The new plan comes as governor Evans Kidero’s quest to deliver a cleaner Nairobi was dealt a blow after an allocation of Sh350 million to buy 40 refuse trucks and garbage bins was knocked off City Hall’s budget for the fiscal year that started this month.

The budget committee instead gave each of Nairobi’s 85 wards Sh300,000 annually to be paid out to youth groups involved in garbage collection, pushing the total allocation to Sh25.5 million.

A proposal by the county treasurer to have containers for garbage collection in informal settlements was also shelved.

The project had been allocated Sh100 million but the budget committee has cut it to Sh20 million, adding that the containers should only be placed at market places where they will be secure and optimally used.

City Hall planned to introduce colour-coded bins for separation of plastics, organic matter and other non-biodegradable waste.

“The Sh250 million allocated for 40 refuse vehicles under the environment sector be scrapped off the budget,” noted the committee’s report.

“The sector should fast track the delivery and utilisation of the 34 trucks allocated for funds in 2013/14 before any more purchases are allowed.”
In January, the county purchased 31 garbage trucks from Chinese automaker Foton but only 11 had been delivered by last month.

On Wednesday, Dr Kidero launched the second batch of 13 trucks and one side-loader purchased in 2013/14. This brings the total number of trucks at City Hall’s disposal to 34 including the ones inherited from the defunct City Council of Nairobi.