Institutional arrangements for private sector involvement in urban solid waste collection: case study of five cities in Ghana

This paper discusses institutional arrangements for private sector involvement in urban solid waste delivery and provides understanding of the institutional gaps in Ghana context. Five cities in Ghana (Accra, Tema, Kumasi, SecondiTakoradi, and Tamale) were selected for the study. This study suggests there were institutional arrangements – legal, regulatory and financial arrangements – for private sector involvement in solid waste collection. These arrangements include both service contracts for communal collection with subsidy paid by local government Assemblies and franchise contracts for housetohouse service with or without subsidy from the Assemblies. The involvement of private sector in solid waste collection had increased the collection rate and the proportion of housetohouse collection service without subsidy from the government. The major constraints were the inadequate capacity of the Assemblies, the long delay in paying for the contracts, low user charges and inadequate monitoring of quality of service.