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The Government of the Bahamas is aiming to put residential garbage collection contracts for New Providence – the most populous of its islands - out to tender in the fourth quarter of 2010, with privatisation completed by January 2011, reported The Tribune.
Responding to a question by Francisco deCardenas, Bahamas Waste's managing director, at a press conference to mark the arrival of key technology for the company's biodiesel production facility, Dr Earl Deveaux, minister for the environment, pledged that outsourcing of residential waste collection would "soon come".
His remarks indicate that the Ingraham administration remains committed to outsourcing/privatising certain government functions, and getting the Bahamian government out of business and things best left to the private sector - especially those that are easiest to do.
While commercial garbage collection had already been privatised, Dr Deveaux said that the Department of Environmental Health Services estimated that it was still collecting 40% of New Providence's commercial waste, given that 'commercial garbage' was defined as four units or more.
The residential garbage collection outsourcing was linked to a wider government strategy, which involved hiring a private sector manager for New Providence's landfill on Tonique Williams-Darling Highway, added Deveaux
The minister confirmed that the Government had yet to conclude negotiations with Miami-based Cambridge Project Development Inc for a contract to manage the landfill, explaining that it wanted to "segregate" this from the garbage collection plans, yet tie all these strands into a comprehensive waste management solution.
"We're not quite at the point yet where the Government can [go out to bid] on the residential garbage collection," Dr Deveaux said. "We hope to have a system in place in January, and see the bids go out certainly in the last quarter of this year."
Adding that the Government's estimate was that the Department of Environmental Health "picks up 40% of commercial waste", Dr Deveaux said the Government wanted to "integrate" any residential collection outsourcing with the public sector and management of New Providence's landfill.
Once this is achieved, there will be a much better "grip" on the cost, volume and composition of New Providence's waste streams. Such information was essential if proposals for a New Providence-based waste-to-energy plant, which Dr Deveaux said could supply 10-15% of Bahamas Electricity Corporation’s current generation capacity, are to come to fruition.
The Government's hope, he added, was to extend the landfill's life by some 50 years via private sector management expertise, while it would take some three to five years to construct and begin operations of a waste-to-energy plant.
In an interview with Tribune Business, Dr Deveaux confirmed the Government had yet to conclude talks with Cambridge Project Development Inc, explaining that the Ingraham administration wanted to "segregate the management of the landfill from the commercial and residential collection, and satisfy the public sector staff members that their jobs are not in jeopardy".
Some 62 jobs would be impacted if the landfill management contract is outsourced to the private sector, and while "it was not the intent of the Government to impact employment opportunities", Dr Deveaux said discussions would have to take place with the relevant Bahamas Public Services Union representatives.
He added that the Government and potential private sector partner also had to develop an agreed "end game" for New Providence's waste management, apart from a new cell and management of the different waste streams.
"The Government intends to use this opportunity to have an end game where we complete the documentary circle on our waste streams, where we use it to generate electricity," Dr Deveaux said. "Cambridge represents the best opportunity, and we have a significant opportunity in waste collection in this country."
