Ernst & Young (EY) is set to facilitate an investors’ roundtable with a special focus on the effective management of solid waste in Ibadan.
The roundtable is one of the activities of a World Bank sponsored project aimed at promoting the effective collection, processing, usage and disposal of waste in Ibadan, all leading to a healthy environment. The Oyo State Waste Management Authority is the main beneficiary of the project, in collaboration with other affected arms of the Oyo State government.
As a global professional services firm with vast experience in public private sector reforms, EY has been engaged to conduct a study on how to improve private sector participation in the entire waste chain, and to provide some training on the principles of private financing, operations, cost recovery and public-private partnership arrangements in urban services with a focus on solid waste management (SWM).
The investor roundtable event, which is slated to hold on Thursday, November 26, in Ibadan, has as a theme ‘Private sector participation in solid waste management activities in Ibadan’ and is an opportunity for all interested private investors to explore how they can take advantage of the opportunities to turn waste into wealth in Oyo State.
The expected private sector input will be geared towards fashioning the best ways to collect, treat and dispose of solid waste generated by all urban population groups in a sustainable, environmentally and socially sound manner, and using the most cost effective means available. The project is expected to help reduce the level of Government expenditure on Waste Management, primarily by creating an enabling environment for the private sector to take on key roles with the waste cycle in a sustainable and commercially viable manner.
According to the media release on the event, local governments usually have the responsibility for providing solid waste services, and the law gives the local government primary responsibility for the management of solid waste. However, due to the impact of poor waste disposal practices, Ibadan has had a series of floods and disease outbreaks over the past years. The State Government therefore created the Waste Management Authority to take on this primary responsibility, in collaboration with the Local Governments.
As a further step, Oyo State has now also secured the support of the World Bank and EY to prepare the ground for the proper introduction of private investments into all aspects of the waste chain.
As a precursor to the investors’ roundtable, EY will also provide training to Oyo State on the 24th, to introduce key stakeholders to conceptual frameworks and practical arrangements of Public Private Partnerships, notably in the SWM sector. The training event will cover the principles of private financing, operations, service concessioning and cost recovery across the waste chain.
The EY team working with the World Bank and Oyo State comprises global experts in solid waste management, and the issues to be covered also include an assessment of the current state of solid waste management in Ibadan, the proposed plan for developing private sector participation in waste management, best practices and experiences of private sectorparticipation in solid waste management and an examination of the existing regulatory framework and institutional arrangements.
ODINAKA ANUDU
