The Nairobi county government has defended the proposed garbage collection charges, saying residents can opt for other collectors.
Chief Officer for Environment David Makori said that people misinterpreted the Finance Bill.
“The county government proposing that if we were to collect waste for you this is how much we will be charging. If currently another service provider is doing that, you do not have to do double payment,” Makori explained. He said the Bill was misunderstood.
“It is not something new and it is not something that is a must to pay on top of what you are paying at the moment,” he said.
Last week the county assembly budget committee had held a public participation forum where residents gave their opinions on the proposed Finance Bill.
Fees charged for garbage collection was a key issue and youths complained of high charges.
The county also wants to start charging schools for garbage collection, depending on the size of studentor pupils.
Makori pointed out that waste collection is one’s responsibility but most residents do not have the capability of transporting the waste directly to Dandora dumpsite.
Either the county does it on their behalf or a private company, both at a fee. The county has not limited residents from using private service providers for waste collection.
“If the county does the collection on your behalf, a fee of Sh300 is paid. Since we are a public institution, we cannot charge residents randomly and that is the reason why all charges are captured in the Finance Bill,” Makori said.
Residents in low- income areas are charged Sh100 for waste collection by the county, middle-income areas attract Sh200 and high-income areas Sh300.
According to Makori, it is cheaper to have the county collect garbage than private companies. For them, residents pay between Sh500-Sh1,000 per month.
In the proposed 2018-19 Finance Bill, Community Based Organisations (CBOs) would be charged Sh5,000 per trip.
“This Sh5,000 is whereby the CBOs have collected waste from estates and have already sorted it to recycle. They don’t have trucks to take the waste to the dumpsite,”Makori said
“As a county, that is where we come in and charge them Sh5,000 to take the waste to the site,” he added.
Makori said that it is impossible to reduce charges becuase of increased fuel prices and the need to maintain the trucks.
“ I can tell you for a fact that there is no profit the county is getting from the charged fees,” Makori said. The county’s revenues dropped in the last financial year making it to seek ways to plug the revenues shortaff and offer services.