COLLECTION,TRANSPORTATION AND DISPOSAL IN NAIROBI 83
of the capacity of the Council to collect revenue and debts and net new rate payers,
adjustment of Council’s charges to bring them closer to market prices, expenditure
control through a 40 percent reduction of the workforce, and introduction of a realistic
budgeting process.
User satisfaction and public support
Nairobi residents blame the NCC for almost all the problems they face. With respect
to solid waste collection the NCC continues to levy charges and rates without deliv-
ering any services, leading to substantial dissatisfaction with and lack of public
support for the municipal service. Few households now receive the NCC service,
which has degenerated to hardly more than crisis management.
There is user satisfaction and public support for private solid waste collection service
generally. The households we interviewed felt that the service was regular, reliable
and affordable. However, the larger and more organised firms were considered better
service providers than the smaller ones. Another indication of user appreciation of
privatised solid waste collection comes from experiences with the pilot public-private
partnership between the NCC and KRH. City residents felt that KRH had improved
cleanliness in the CBD.
Despite these favourable opinions, however, some drawbacks need to be mentioned.
First of all, many citizens are reluctant to hire the services of private firms as they
consider solid waste collection a NCC responsibility for which they are paying.
Secondly, private sector firms have hardly extended services to social groups that are
not provided with services (UNCHS, Undated), as they tend to exclude the
low-income groups or those associated with payment difficulties for commercial
reasons. Consequently, many areas of the city (principally unplanned settlement
areas) are still inadequately served or not served at all. These two factors negatively
affect the social legitimacy of private solid waste collection.
Employment levels and quality
The NCC employed 2,324 workers, 22 percent of which were engaged in solid waste
collection services in 1998. Although salaries are low and purchasing power continues
to deteriorate, NCC workers can call on the usual package of fringe benefits related to
public sector employment. Besides, a sizeable group of employees does not even
bother to show up at work. Those that do are heavily demoralised by delays in
payment for up to three months, and lack of equipment and tools. Therefore, their
productivity is very low, as demonstrated in the previous section.
Private solid waste collection companies have a fairly large workforce. For example,
Bins (Nairobi) Services Ltd. has a total of 62 employees, City Bins Ltd. 65, DRDS 20,
and Tacentac Enterprises 21.