Study on privatization of garbage collection gets underway

December 7, 2020 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY – A feasibility study for the privatization of the city’s solid waste management is about to get underway following the approval of a council resolution.
In a resolution, the city council requested the executive department to conduct a feasibility study for the privatization and one time collection of the city’s garbage from source to landfill.
With the council resolution on hand, the City General Services Office (GSO) has requested for the funding of a feasibility study for the privatization of the city’s solid waste management which will be conducted by a private consulting firm.
The draft proposal of a cost-benefit analysis prepared by the City Planning and Development Office will serve as a framework in the conduct of the said study. The goal of the study which will be conducted in 4 months is to find out if the privatization of the city’s solid waste management is more viable and efficient than the current system of the city through empirical evidence.
The output of the study will be a document that will map out the preferred strategy for the city’s solid waste management of the city. This requires the assistance of one resource economist, one business development and entrepreneurship specialist, and one data analytics specialist. The council resolution claimed that the plan to privatize may result in cost reduction and may bring about increased efficiency.
In an interview, Eugene Buyucan, GSO Chief, said he is open to the idea of commissioning a private company for the city’s garbage collection. He claimed that the city may be able to cut its expenses for the said operation.
“If we bring in a private company, the city may be able to save money used for personal services, for the procurement of vehicles, and for maintenance,” Buyucan said. Moreover, Buyucan agreed that the move towards privatization may introduce more efficient services in garbage collection.
“Our current system is working. Our services are somehow satisfactory. Sadly, we have limited manpower resources and vehicles that is why our performance is not at its optimal level,” Buyucan explained.
“A private company works efficiently because it is performance-based and it can always employ more workers to meet the demands of the job,” he added. The resolution stated that the move to privatize the garbage collection in the city has long been proposed by some concerned sectors but was not fully recognized, thus was shelved.
The current public health emergency has brought to the fore the need to revisit the clamor to privatize the collection of garbage in the city, the resolution asserted. The GSO chief said he would welcome the move of the city to privatize garbage collection. At the same time, he expressed support for the council’s request to conduct a feasibility study first before arriving at a decision.
“If the feasibility study proves that this move will improve the delivery of public service, then we will support it,” Buyucan stated.
“We would not jump right away into privatization. The feasibility study will guide the city in its policy-making. The prevailing assumption is that privatization will be advantageous as it may be more efficient and practical, but our approach in our decisions has to be scientific and scholarly,” Buyucan added.
Jordan G. Habbiling/ABN