Prospects for privatization - solid waste collection : Dominican Republic

A political and economic profile of the Dominican Republic sets the context for a discussion, following, of existing public municipal services and of the supplemental private waste services which have developed in response to public sector inadequacies. Possible courses of action for the National District - which is legally and politically required to provide waste services - are outlined: maintain the status quo; seek donor aid; or contract out/franchise either a portion or all of the services. The critical issue of financing solid waste services by raising user fees four- or fivefold and increasing the efficiency of their collection is then addressed. Finally, it is suggested that the best of three privatization alternatives considered herein would be to franchise the entire street cleaning, waste collection, and disposal service to a single enterprise which would itself collect user fees. A scope of work for activities pursuant to a privatization decision is included.