BEST PRACTICES ON SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT OF NEPALESE CITIES
product for NRs. 20 per kg to the local nurseries, and
some of them use it themselves for agricultural and
gardening purposes. Local dealers buy paper, plastic
and glass for NRs.12, NRs.6, and NRs.2 per kg
respectively (Hetauda municipality, 2008 data).
Transportation and final disposal
Hetauda municipality dumps its waste on the bank of
the Rapti River. The site is 1.5 km south of the east-
west highway. The waste collection fleet comprises two
tipper trucks of capacity 3 tons, two tractors pulling
trailers that can each hold 2 tons, three rickshaws of
capacity 300-500 kg, three handcarts that can carry up
to 100 kg, and 30 one-wheel barrows of capacity 50
kg. One suction tanker is also available (Hetauda
municipality, 2008 data). Almost 12 tons of waste is
dumped at the dumping site daily and it is planned to
use this site for the next 10 years (Hetauda municipality,
2008 data). Calculating with the projected population
of 90,054, the daily waste generation of the municipality
is estimated to be 22 tons. This means that 55 per cent
of the generated waste is dumped and 15 per cent of
waste is being recycled. During the field visit there were
no waste pickers or animals at the Rapti river bank
dumping site and no open burning was observed (this
site is owned by the government of Nepal.) Infectious
hospital waste is disposed of in trenches by the hospital.
Organisational and
financial aspects
In total, sixty-six people are employed by the private
organisations for the collection, transportation and
dumping of solid wastes. In addition, the municipality
has 39 staff to support, monitor and supervise the work
(Hetauda municipality, 2007 data). The municipality
staff are also responsible for sweeping approximately
8 km of streets on a daily basis.
The income of this municipality is derived from property
tax, municipal tax, licence fees, grants from the
government and foreign organisations, and user
charges. During the field visit, it was noted that service
charges have been imposed for waste collection. This
charge is NRs.30 per month for HHs, NRs.50 per month
for schools, NRs.100 per month for business premises
and NRs.200 per month for hotels (Hetauda
municipality, 2007 data). These charges were fixed by
the municipality in coordination with the leaders of
TLOs, representatives from users' groups, the contractor
and representatives from the district chamber of
commerce.
Municipal expenditure on waste management was 5
per cent of the total yearly budget in the fiscal year
2006-2007 (Hetauda municipality, 2007 data).
According to the municipality, the total municipal
expenditure of Hetauda in that fiscal year was almost
NRs.80 million (Hetauda municipality, 2007 data).
Therefore, the annual per capita expenditure of the
municipality was NRs.884.
Major problems and issues
Although the partnership with the private sector has
proved effective, the municipality is facing problems
related to rapid urbanisation and because of political
disturbance in the tarai areas, staff shortages, financial
constraints etc. Other obstacles include the lack of
authority of the Community Development Section to
make financial and administrative decisions, the lack
of trained personnel, the lack of standardised vehicles
and the frequent breakdown of vehicles, inadequate
enforcement measures, uncontrolled squatter
settlements, poor cooperation between the public and
private sectors, and inadequate stakeholder
coordination.
There is an urgent need for a landfill site for sanitary
disposal of waste. The current arrangements may create
water pollution because they are dumping their waste
beside a river. Furthermore, the dumping sites may not
only cause serious disruption for the wildlife of Chitwan
National Park26 but also impact on the tourism industry
of that region. The Community Development Section
does not have enough authority to allocate municipal
resources for the improvements that are essential for
solid waste management of the area.
Nevertheless, the municipality has definitely achieved
its goal of a clean and healthy Hetauda city by means
of its partnership with the private sector.
26 Chitwan National Park is the major tourist destination of Nepal, and is only 30 km south-west of Hetauda municipality
26