Through a range of instruments, a regulatory framework regulates investors, non-state operators in the private and voluntary sectors, government decision-makers and consumers.
From a people's perspective, a regulatory framework is there to protect the consumer. It does this directly or indirectly by requiring quality of service at a reasonable price and by encouraging choice through a competitive environment, creating incentives for the private enterprise to perform, value for money etc. Municipalities should seek to understand the implications of the regulatory framework on consumers (particularly poor consumers) and facilitate vehicles for consumers to effectively articulate their interests.
The regulatory framework is also one of the key instruments that determine the performance and behaviour of the private sector. In terms of private operators and investors, a sound regulatory framework will aim to create certainty about the operating environment and the ability to recover costs. Both financiers and operators want to know that they can run effective businesses and that the service context is free from arbitrary state interventions. This will be achieved through the price and market control mechanisms described above. A municipality will need to explore whether or not the national regulatory context provides this certainty and, if it does not, explore ways of promoting the development of such a framework and creating it through the contract.
But the framework is also there to support and define the role, behaviour and performance of government. A regulatory framework is effective when it gives municipal decision-makers incentives to engage private operators and guide them as to how they could do so in the best interest of effective service delivery. This includes, for instance: the legal provision for private sector engagement, the definition of the regulatory role of public sector organisations (including the regulating body discussed later), the requirement for proper budgeting, planning and financial acumen, and incentives for individuals to change (such as the inclusion of performance indicators). Municipalities need to explore the regulatory framework that determines these areas and, if incomplete, take local-level steps to create or enhance it.
In practice, service delivery to poor households comprises an array of other small-scale providers (such as water tankers, septic tank vacuum trucks, cooperatives of solid waste workers - see Chapter 7). In the past, the lack of regulation at the small-scale and neighbourhood level, particularly among informal enterprises, has resulted in an unpredictable environment (sometimes competitive, sometimes exploitative), and frequently, poor-quality service. A regulatory framework in support of poverty-focused service delivery will need to address small-scale providers as well as the large national or international firms.
Environmental conditions in many of the informal settlements in Dar-es-Salaam are poor. Large areas are either waterlogged or have a high water table, and more than 85% of the city's residents depend on on-site sanitation facilities. Most households use latrines, including traditional unlined latrines. As a result of poor environmental conditions, many latrines fill up with water and require more frequent emptying. Until 1996 the Dar-es-Salaam Sewerage and Sanitation Department (DSSD) operated a fleet of four pit-emptying tankers for sewer maintenance, through which it also provided pit-emptying services. These tankers served a small portion of the 85% of households relying on on-site sanitation services. As demand from the fast-growing Dar-es-Salaam population increased, the Dar-es-Salaam City Commission's (DCC's) capacity to respond to the long waiting list of customers who had paid up-front for tanker services declined. The advent of the El Niño floods of 1996, and a subsequent cholera outbreak in various areas of the city on a scale that was unprecedented, forced DCC to look for alternative means for improving access to cess-pit-emptying services by allowing private cess-pit-emptying service providers. Through the Habitat-funded Sustainable Dar Project, the DCC started exploring the possibility of enabling private provision of cess-pit-emptying services. A study was therefore conducted in the Sinza suburb of llala District to determine the true cost of operating a pit-emptying service within the city of Dar-es-Salaam. The study concluded that the minimum operational cost was in the region of 22,000 Tanzanian shillings (TShs), the equivalent of US$25 per trip. DCC thereafter organised a meeting with potential operators of private pit-emptying services in 1995, to discuss the findings of the study and agree a way forward. During this meeting it was agreed that private pit-emptying services would be licensed to operate provided that they complied with a set of rules and regulations intended to ensure fair pricing and the proper handling of waste by all actors. Based on the goodwill generated by the consultation meeting, several private pit-emptiers immediately sought to obtain licences (at a cost of US$2) and initiate operations while the DSSD was working out arrangements for issuing dumping permits. Eventually all operators received dumping permits, and all are now complying with the terms agreed at the initial meeting. To ensure access for low-income households, tankers are expected to maintain a minimum charge of TShs 17,000 (US$21.25). Any operator who is reported to have contravened this requirement will have his/her permit revoked. The terms for obtaining a dumping permit include that: • waste dumped at sludge-dumping facilities should be organic waste only (attendants visually inspect discharge); • operators must discharge waste at the specific treatment plants defined on their individual permits; and • a dumping fee of TShs 3000 (US$3.75) per trip must be paid to the DSSD. To reduce the likelihood of collusion between drivers and dumping-site attendants, the dumping fee is charged monthly in advance of operations, based on an average number of five trips per day. The number of actual trips carried out is verified at the end of the month, against receipts collected from the attendant at the dumping point. Cess-pit-emptying services are supervised by the head of Waste Management Department of the DCC. He is assisted at the waste treatment sites by attendants who record cesspit-emptying tanker arrivals, confirm the quality of the sludge being dumped, and collect and record the number of trips made per tanker. At the operational level, service providers negotiate service charges with customers on a case-by-case basis. The main parameters considered are: seasonal service demand (the rainy season generates higher demand, which results in higher prices); the distance from the site to the disposal facility; the socio- economic circumstances of the customer (the rich pay more ); and the type of facility to be emptied. Pit latrines sometimes attract higher fees than septic tanks due to the risk of damage to the equipment. To date, legislation formalising these arrangements has not been put in place. However, it is anticipated that this will be done to ensure that ongoing operations are in line with the legislation transferring management responsibility for sewerage facilities to a private operator. Despite the semi-formal nature of these arrangements, the number of pit-emptying operators has increased and the price of services has dropped.
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