Developing Waste Management System and Regulatory Framework in Nepal

Karlis Svikis / Madhab Raj Ghimire, Infrastructure Legal/Regulatory Consultant

Nepalese Waste policy objectives and priorities

Sound waste policy objectives and accurate regulatory instruments designed to achieve those objectives shall constitute a cornerstone of every national waste management system. A stable regulatory framework is of outmost importance for the national authorities to plan their long-term strategy with regard to the waste management in the country. Implementation of the policy objectives requires substantial human, financial and technological capacities to be invested over a long period of time, and it is absolutely essential to ensure long-term security for those entrusted with the particular tasks. By trying to solve the existing waste-management problems by means of short-term solutions the respective country faces a danger of facing environmental, financial and political drawbacks in the medium- and long-run.

Among the primary waste policy objectives should be mentioned the following:

-          minimisation of the negative effects of the generation and management of waste on human health and the environment;

-          reduction of the resources usage;

-          application of the waste hierarchy.

Accordingly, the priorities of a waste management system shall emphasise waste prevention as the first and foremost goal, and shall prefer re-use and material recycling of waste to energy recovery from waste, provided this is feasible under the existing circumstances and insofar as they are the best ecological options. The respective country shall develop waste prevention programmes concentrating on the key environmental impacts and taking into account the whole life-cycle of products and materials. Such measures should pursue the objective of breaking the link between economic growth and the environmental impacts associated with the generation of waste.

The respective regulatory instruments shall precisely define the concepts of waste, recovery and disposal, and shall strengthen the measures that must be taken in regard to waste prevention. The whole life-cycle of products and materials shall be taken into consideration and not only the waste phase. The focus shall be put on educing the environmental impacts of waste generation and waste management, thereby strengthening the economic value of waste. Furthermore, the recovery of waste and the use of recovered materials should be encouraged in order to conserve natural resources.

In a similar manner, the pertinent legal instruments shall define the concepts of prevention, re-use, preparing for re-use, treatment and recycling of waste.

Based on the experience of the countries with developed waste management systems, the very crucial polluter-pays-principle shall be incorporated into the regulatory framework. The waste producer and the waste holder should manage the waste in a way that guarantees a high level of protection of the environment and human health.

Economic instruments can play a crucial role in the achievement of waste prevention and management objectives. Waste often has value as a resource, and the further application of economic instruments may maximise environmental benefits. The use of such instruments at the appropriate level should therefore be encouraged.

Approach of the EU and its Member States

All the above mentioned principles have been elaborated and applied in the EU and its Member States throughout the last two decades. Currently, Europe’s approach constitutes the most advanced waste management system worldwide, and is based on three guiding principles:[i]

1.       Waste prevention:  This is a key factor in any waste management strategy. It aims at reducing the amount of waste generated in the first place and reduce its hazardousness by reducing the presence of dangerous substances in products, then disposing of it will automatically become simpler. Waste prevention is closely linked with improving manufacturing methods and influencing consumers to demand greener products and less packaging.

2.       Recycling and reuse: If waste cannot be prevented, as many of the materials as possible should be recovered, preferably by recycling. The European Commission has defined several specific 'waste streams' for priority attention, the aim being to reduce their overall environmental impact. This includes packaging waste, end-of-life vehicles, batteries, electrical and electronic waste. EU directives now require Member States to introduce legislation on waste collection, reuse, recycling and disposal of these waste streams. Several EU countries are already managing to recycle over 50% of packaging waste.

3.       Improving final disposal and monitoring: Where possible, waste that cannot be recycled or reused should be safely incinerated, with landfill only used as a last resort. Both these methods need close monitoring because of their potential for causing severe environmental damage. The EU has recently approved a directive setting strict guidelines for landfill management. It bans certain types of waste, such as used tyres, and sets targets for reducing quantities of biodegradable rubbish. Another recent directive lays down tough limits on emission levels from incinerators. The Union also wants to reduce emissions of dioxins and acid gases such as nitrogen oxides (NO_x), sulphur dioxides (SO₂), and hydrogen chlorides (HCL), which can be harmful to human health.

The latest EU legislative framework in the field of waste management consists of the following six instruments:

-          0020Waste Management Framework Directive

-          Packaging Waste Directive

-          Hazardous Waste Directive

-          Waste Incineration Directive

-          Landfill Directive

-          Shipment of Waste Directive

All these instruments are to be transposed and properly implemented into the legislation of individual Member States.

Particularities of Nepal

When developing a waste management system in Nepal, various particularities of the country shall be considered. Among others, these include:

Financial capabilities: implementation of a strong waste management system is a long-term process requiring substantial financial investments. A country with limited financial capabilities should put prime emphasis on those options allowing attract significant private resources into the development of the waste management system. Different types of private-public-partnerships shall be considered. In order to encourage the investments, Nepal should emphasise those options that allow private investor to recover its investment through different modes of waste utilisation (energy production; recycling, etc.). Such option shall be supported by appropriate instruments of fees (e.g. for waste collection) and tariffs (e.g. for energy produced from waste).

Promotion of renewable energy resources: the waste management system shall encourage using the existing and new waste landfills for producing renewable energy. By doing that, not only would Nepal make the waste management more attractive for private investors; it would also provide additional means for fighting energy shortcomings faced by various regions of the country.

Utilisation of water resources: water constitutes the main natural source in Nepal. By developing an environmentally responsible waste management system, which pays due attention to preventing pollution of rivers, lakes and groundwater through waste disposal, Nepal would create additional opportunities of utilising water resources. Furthermore, the general environmental impacts shall not be underestimated.

By introducing a new state-of-the-art waste management system, which considers the latest environmental, technological and political particularities in the region and also world-wide, Nepal could set an example for other countries in the region. Depending on regional particularities, geographical circumstances and particular waste treatment necessities (e.g requiring specialised installations) different cross-border projects could be envisaged.

Nepal shall refer to an international experience in the field of waste management and look for cooperation partners capable of implementing the respective goals. These partner institutions shall be selected by means of a call for proposals. The cooperation areas shall encompass, among others, a comprehensive assessment of the national infrastructure, relating to the legal, institutional, administrative and technical aspects of waste management, along with an understanding of the nature and extent of waste availability and use in the country. The aim of developing structural reforms, rather than simply drafting legislative instruments any new or adapted system must be self-sufficient and function under the auspices Nepal.

karlis.svikis@bnt.eu/mrghimire@hotmail.com

---

[i] Information is obtained from http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/index.htm

Public Private Partnership (PPP) Regime in Nepal

-Madhab Raj Ghimire

PPP is a long-term risk, reward and revenue (3R) sharing contractual arrangement between a public-sector party and a private-sector. PPP includes design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of public Infrastructure or service by the private- sector in which concession provisions provided by public authority.

PPP regime needs to introduce bench mark to obtain yard sticks for the successful running PPP projects. For the public sector delivery whether it is for products or services of construction of infrastructure that should be familiar with consumer demand or public authority’s service delivery.  These service deliveries of upstream or downstream level PPP project keep basis of without distorting competitive market with following by revenue stream.

An experience of PPP Laws and Regulations in Nepal, Private Financing Build Operate Infrastructure (PFBOI) Act-2007 promotes only private financing but does not facilitate partnership.The Act has mentioned that Project Coordination Committee will be headed by vice-chairman of Nepal Planning Commission that cannot be institutionally accessible or feasible for local bodies.The Act has carried some misconceptions which fail to provide guidance on the competitive tendering of development infrastructure project. PFBOI and Implementing Regulations-2007 covers only procurement of infrastructure and limitations have been encountered in implementing these procurement procedures.The Act does not require widely-disseminated advertising to alert prospective domestic and foreign bidders and stake holders for participating procurement of infrastructure.

There are some issues that can be amended in PFBOI in coming amendment process or re-draft processing, those are; pre-feasibility study needs to make mandatory before expression of interest after the project selection; each project needs to be including mechanism of public and private sectors participation along with government participation.  In the bidding documents; the evaluation criteria need to be an objective to maintain transparency in evaluation proceedings. The Act contains no requirement of a pre-feasibility study, evaluation criteria, etc. The Act needs to barred unsolicited proposals that encourage avoid competition, transparency or fairness.  Similarly, problems have been encountered in local bodies following by Local Self-governance Act-1999 and Local Body Financial Administration Rules-2007 where PPP projects have been procured under the standard existing procurement law, which has already proven unsuited to PPPprojects.

Finally, PPP have enormous potential country like Nepal to gain access to private sector resources, to reduce project costs and improve service delivery where government does not have enough financial capabilities. PPP can be successful if there is strong specialized regulatory authority which has enough grips to maintain or regulate the activities. Therefore, Government of Nepal made another effort to endorse Nepal Investment Board Act-2011 for the high (fixed) cost based legislation.

The writer is PPP Legal Consultant for Legal Plus P. Ltd, can be reached at mrghimire@hotmail.com