103
21% in Dakar to 80% in Khartoum. Levels of informal provision of electricity in the region are similar.89 Municipal authorities have also partnered with small private entrepreneurs to provide toilets or sanitation (in Suzhou, China, and in partnership with a federation of women slum-dwellers in Mumbai, India). Such initiatives have produced better quality, cheaper, and better managed solutions.90 In most cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, small, informal modes of public transport (by minibus, scooter, tricycles and shared taxis) are central to transport services. In Latin America, up to 30% of journeys are made in informal transport, with a much higher proportion for low-income groups. The lack of formal solid waste services also often leads to the emergence of cooperatives, micro enterprises, NGOs and informal workers catering to households and businesses. In Latin America, these providers represent an estimated 3.3% of activity in the sector, rising to 7.8% in large cities, particularly in slums and informal settlements. The number of informal recyclers is estimated at over 400,000 people across the region.91 In many cities in Asia and in Africa, tens of thousands of people make a living through waste collection,92 sometimes competing with formal systems and challenging weak municipalities. For example, in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, users refuse to pay the municipal tax for waste collection, preferring to pay informal waste pickers directly. This reduces municipal revenues for financing the less visible aspects of waste transfer and management.93 There are also good examples of partnerships between waste pickers and local governments, which have been strengthened where waste pickers have organized to bid for local government contracts.94 This approach can be less than half the cost of formal provision.95 However, if efforts are not made to improve working conditions and integrate the informal sector, such savings can come at the price of safe working con-
ditions of the waste-pickers operating in the informal sector. Small-scale providers have an especially important role to play in the medium-term where urbanization has outpaced the ability of local government to provide services. Small providers can be a second-best solution, as is the case with the use of public standpipes or dry sanitation in South African cities, or street lighting and solar lanterns in Kenya. Such initiatives provide households with services at a cost slightly higher than the traditional alternatives, but still much cheaper than the most up-todate services. In some cases, they may not represent a viable long term solution. The role of local governments in regulating and overseeing these small providers is crucial because of potential consequences for human safety and the environment. For example, as reminder in the Asian chapter, competition between transport providers causes traffic congestion and air pollution from poorly-maintained vehicles, as well as higher accident rates due to a lack of safety standards. Private sludge removers sometimes just dump waste from septic tanks into rivers and streams. Private waste collectors may be more interested in waste that can be recovered or recycled, neglecting unprofitable wet and malodorous waste. Private water suppliers in slum areas charge much higher rates than municipal utilities and often provide contaminated water, and the uncontrolled exploitation of groundwater can have serious consequences. Local governments should not only regulate small providers, but also support them to build a more integrated system of urban services.
Local government and Âcommunity provision In many low- and middle-income countries, where poor neighbourhoods and informal
PPIAF, Gridlines, Note nÂş 9, June 2006. McGranahan et al (2006). 89
90
Burra et al (2003).
91
Fergutz et al (2011).
92
Keita (2001).
AFD (2007); cited by Paulais (2012). 93
Terrazza and Sturzenegger, 2010 quoted in Latin American Chapter. In Brazil, legislation supports the cooperation between the public and informal sectors in waste collection and recycling. 94
95
Kadalie (2012).