Privatization - Mexico - UNAM calls for private investment to meet waste demands

By Rebecca Conan?/?Business News Americas

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Increased private participation is required to meet the demands of Mexico's waste sector, Constantino Guti?rrez, a researcher at the engineering institute of national autonomous university UNAM told BNamericas during the UNAM Green Week conference.

"Within the next 20-30 years, private sector participation should account for up to 50% of waste service provision," said Guti?rrez.

Municipal governments are currently responsible for urban waste management services but poor financial management, a lack of long-term planning and short administrative terms hinder the effective provision of services, said the researcher.

Where private companies participate in waste management, the service is often superior to that offered by the municipality, said the academic.

"In this way there is a guarantee that at least the infrastructure in place will provide a good service," said Guti?rrez.

While private participation may be desirable, the academic recognizes that municipalities do not often have the funds to hire private contractors. It is fairly common for a waste management concession to be signed, for a municipal government to fall behind in payments, for the administration to change and the old contract not to be honored, said Guti?rrez.

This could be "easily resolved by the municipality charging for waste collection services," as is common in many other countries, said the academic.

Informal payment of garbage collectors by local residents is common across the whole of Mexico, but the researcher suggests that formalization of these charges in the form of a municipal waste collection charge would result in a more efficient and viable system.

The fast turnover in administrations could also be addressed through the creation of a decentralized body dedicated to waste management in the municipality. The organization would be unaffected by government changes and economically self-sufficient if waste management services were charged.

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