39. One of the most frequently cited advantages of the private sector over government is its management flexibility. Private sector management has greater ease in firing personnel for nonperformance and in providing upward mobility for workers with good performance. Also, the private sector is not constrained to government hours and overtime constraints. This has been an important factor in the private sector participation case of Bogota. There, government solid waste collection workers have a union contract for a six and one-half hour workday, with overtime at double salary. Because of the difficulty in obtaining authorization for overtime pay, the city is constrained with being able to collect only one full load for each daily shift. On the other hand, the private sector operates on an eight-hour daily shift basis. Bogota is privatizing municipal solid waste collection— one zone at a time—and is trying to obtain enough cooperation from the government union to be able to provide efficient service in the remaining publicly served zones (11).

40. In Malaysia, all municipalities are formally obliged to follow government hours. However, one city, Petaling Jaya, reached an informal agreement with its refuse collection workers to implement the "task" system of work, wherein workers may leave work whenever they finish their assigned route (11).

41. Constraining government hours have been a motivating factor to increase private sector participation in Indonesia. To have around-the-clock street cleaning and refuse collection of central commercial and tourist areas, the cities of Jakarta and Semarang have hired private companies (1 1).

42. Studies on optimal municipal solid waste management have shown that cost is reduced in cities where the span of management between the manager or supervisor and the worker is appropriate. When the span of management is too high, the supervision of workers is inadequate, and worker productivity is low. When the span of management is too low, the supervision of workers is adequate, but supervisor productivity is low. Both extremes lead unnecessarily to high costs. ideally, to obtain low-cost service, the span of management for solid waste collection systems should be about one supervisor for every four vehicle crews required for solid waste collection (56). In developing countries, most municipal solid waste agencies have a span of management of about one supervisor to every twenty to fifty solid waste collection crews. Also, government often provides inadequate salaries for supervisory positions, which makes it difficult to obtain qualified supervisors (49, 54). If the private sector has a greater ability to implement more appropriate management practices than government, there is opportunity for cost reduction through private sector participation.

43. Staffing ratios are important in maintenance as well as in supervision. Ideally, there should be one mechanic for every four to five solid waste collection vehicles (56). In developing countries, most municipal solid waste agencies commonly have one mechanic for every ten to fifteen vehicles. In addition, repair operations are bogged down with burdensome bureaucratic procedures that dramatically increase the downtime of solid waste collection vehicles. For a spare part to be purchased it typically takes two to four days to obtain the necessary supplier quotations and to submit the lowest quote for the approval of upper management. Most vehicles are down for three to six days just for relatively minor repairs. If the part has to be ordered from a foreign supplier, the vehicle is down for three to six months (11). For efficient solid waste management service, at any given time, no more than 20 percept of the equipment should be out of service (56). In most developing countries, however, typically 25 percent to 50 percent of the operable fleet is down (11). Maintenance and repair service is one area where in which the private sector has typically been able to perform very effectively. Vehicles used in private sector solid waste collection fleets are seldom down for repair service for more than a half day.

44. Private sector participation in solid waste service is not the only way to introduce management flexibility into the system. This goal can be effectively accomplished by commercializing the solid waste management entity. In Bandung (Indonesia), Medan (Indonesia), Ho Chi Minh City (Viet Nam), and Lagos, effective steps toward this goal are well underway. In these cities, commercialization has involved: a) the restructuring of the solid waste service entity into a semiprivate enterprise, and b) the granting of authority to the new enterprise to hire and fire personnel freely and to collect appropriate tariffs to cover costs. It has also included the payment by government of costs related to service of public properties and the removal of government subsidy (11).