The main tool for management, performance evaluation and cost calculation in the dumpsite is the vehicles weight bridge.

N.B.: The level of operation efficiency the efficient and timely service of the available shifts or the operational capacity (a vehicle and its crew per working day). It further indicates that the vehicles have not ceased to work due to mechanical breakdowns or that replacement vehicles were used to cover any unexpected stoppage of the available vehicles.

5.2 The performance of the central dump site

5.3 Cost

The cost is equal to the total yearly expenditure including the depreciation of the assets (cars and equipment) divided by the total waste in tons.

N.B.: Prices include all costs of operation and the depreciation of assets except the value of constructing the dumpsite. If the depreciation of the dumpsite construction materials were included, an extra 6.5 Shekel/ton should be added.

The Council for Solid Waste Management adopts a certain system in proving its financial dealings (cost recovery) including the value of depreciation of all assets and taxes, just like any other private company, excluding the value of the dumpsite construction. Member municipalities are being accounted for in accordance to their monthly quantity of collected waste. For every fiscal year, the surplus or the deficit is distributed to all the members on the basis of their quantities of waste. An independent auditor verifies the budget of the council.

6.1 Governmental Grants

The member municipalities pay their contributions for the operation of the project from their own finances through imposing cleaning fees and taxes on the citizens. They do not receive financial aid from the central government to cover any operational cost, but they have the right to attain governmental grants directly or through donor states to cover infrastructure projects only. This was also applied to the council for solid waste management due to the fact that it is owned by member municipalities, although the system of the council is different from governmental institutions and more like non governmental sector. That was one of the advantages that enabled the council to attain governmental grants through donor states. Governmental grants are classified as a regular income in a period in which certain assignments are supposed to be fulfilled.

6.2 The advantages of the Council for Solid Waste Management

The council is owned by the member municipalities and is considered one of the assets of those municipalities. Therefore municipalities view the council in a positive manner in terms of work and financial contributions, since they themselves are the beneficiaries. In addition, the council took the responsibility of collecting and disposing of the wastes, relieving the municipalities from this responsibility. There is a great coordination between the council and the cleanliness departments in municipalities in the primary collection processes undertaken by the municipality and the secondary collection process undertaken by the council in order to guarantee the integration and harmony between the two processes. There is also coordination in the financial matters with every municipality in terms of assisting the municipalities to impose the proper fees and taxes that suit the actual costs of the service in a way that guarantees enough revenues to cover the contributions of the municipalities to the council.

6.3 The preservation of the environment

Among the advantages of the council is that it is the only body responsible for the final waste collection in its domain, including transferring the waste to the right dump place. Hence the random dumping of waste in open spaces no longer exists, and this, in itself, is a target in order to preserve the environment and public health. The council also plays an important role in setting standards for the provided services and their actual costs. It also helps in setting the suitable environmental legislation.

7.1 The establishment of the infrastructure

The participation of the private sector was mostly limited to the establishment of the infrastructure for the council, such as: garages, dumpsite roads, design and manufacturing of the bodies of vehicles and containers. Contractors or manufacturers were listed and classified according to their field of specialization. Limited bids were declared with the collaboration of the German agency GTZ, which had financed the needs of the council.

7.2 The participation of the private sector in the services

The role of the private sector in the services provided by the council are limited to the following:

• Financial advice - financial auditing companies.
• Technical advice that is limited to some engineering offices or specialized persons (in the field of preventive maintenance, dump site management and in setting the annual plans for using the dumpsite and the program for observing the performance of vehicles).
• Maintenance work for the collection vehicles and the dumpsite bulldozer.
• Washing and lubricating the bulldozer.
• Covering certain areas of the dumpsite with sand and plastic bags during the rainy season to prevent water leakage and diminish the production of leachate.
• Preparations are being made for installing machines for sieving old waste in the dumpsite in order to attain organic soil or soil conditioners. To be used as a final covering soil for the parts of the dumpsite which has reached its maximum capacity of waste. Also this would help in reducing the quantities of existing waste which would prolong the lifetime of the dumpsite. The sieving process will be assigned to the private sector after a trial process to determine the costs.

Those services, though minor, are important and by assigning them to the private sector the time and effort of implementation management is being saved for carrying out its main responsibilities.

7.3 The informal participation of the private sector

This kind of participation is limited to junk merchants who send their workers to the dumpsite to collect iron, copper and aluminum. They are allowed in the dumpsite since their work saves the council the effort of disposing of metals during the future sieving process of old waste.

8.1 The obstacles for privatization

The obstacles for privatizing the council's services in Gaza strip, and particularly in Deir el Balah and Khan Younis are represented in the following points:

• The small size of the local market. The population of the whole Gaza strip is one million, and in the two governorates in question, the population reaches 345 000, of which about 105 000 are serviced directly by UNRWA.
• The size of the required investment is high in comparison to revenue, which is low to the extent that it is not feasible to make a separate bill for the cleaning services beneficiaries. The cleaning service fee must be added either to the water & sewage bill, or to the electric power bill.
• Managing the solid waste is one of the difficult services in terms of calculating the bill of the beneficiaries as compared to water or electricity that are calculated according to readings of meters. In the field of solid waste, the fees are set according to taxation segments (residential, commercial, industrial, services). The fees are usually modified in order to cover the expenses.

8.2 Negative aspects for privatizing solid waste management services

The current negative aspects are summarized as follows: -

• The necessity of granting long term contracts (a minimum of ten years) to give a chance for the private sector to invest and recover its investments on long terms.
• Due to the small size of the local market, there is no chance for having more than one investor in this field, and with a long term contract this would lead to monopoly and soaring prices.
• It is difficult to commit the private sector to invest in a dumpsite with high standards due to the high expenses involved, especially, in the absence of strict environmental laws.
   

The urgent question now is to what extent can the private sector contribute to the management of solid waste at the time being? For who in the private sector, has the desire to invest in providing full services according to the required standards with a cost less than the council for solid waste management which is 41 Shekels/ton- about U.S.$10 per ton according to 1998 including the depreciation of fixed assets? If there was such an investor, he should be given a chance in a small trial scale that doesn't require a huge investment. If the trial was successful, it should be expanded to cover all the areas on a gradual manner until it covers the management of the dumpsite. If it fails, the solution for solid waste management problems would be in the current efforts made by the Council of Solid Waste Management and its member municipalities.