Domestic private faecal sludge emptying services in Cambodia : between market efficiency and regulation needs for sustainable management : a paper p...

Over the last two decades, Cambodia has experienced rapid economic and urban growth but still faces numerous challenges, one of them being urban sanitation. While access to improved sanitation reached 29% of the total population in 2008, there remains a gap between rural areas, where access is low, and urban areas, where access is high (80%). However, this situation masks the reality and the issues of urban sanitation in Cambodia. Indeed, most of the sanitation systems are characterized by on-site technologies, in urban areas, where Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) services are commonly ignored and unknown. Very few studies have been undertaken and this paper aims to partially fill the gap by presenting key results, findings and to demonstrate that beside affordable sanitation technologies, profitable private businesses and services, efficient market based approach; the current Cambodian urban sanitation situation produces strong negative environmental externalities that do not create a sustainable urban sanitation management system. Based on a large field study on supply and demand of FSM services conducted in three cities in 2011: Kampot (a small city), Siem Reap (a medium-sized city) and Phnom Penh (the capital), this study aimed to assess the viability and efficiency of current urban FSM services. Field study results confirmed that access to sanitation in urban areas of Cambodia is high but strongly heterogeneous. Following an unrecognized status and unclear policy, the market of FSM services is dominated by small domestic mechanical private Extraction and Transportation Operator, characterized by high competition and market based approach. Most of them are profitable and efficient, provide at a cheap tariff among 20 USD to 50 USD with good quality FSM services, thanks to an adapted business model based on low market entry costs (12,000 USD for a locally assembled truck) and low operation and maintenance costs. Consequently, the Cambodian urban sanitation paradigm looks economically efficient among low costs entry, cheap costs to access to sanitation; reasonable faecal sludge services fees; high service quality and profitable businesses. However, at the upstream of the sanitation value-chain, low quality sanitation technologies are predominant (pits are rarely watertight) and most of FS are directly discharged into the environment at the household stage. Consequently, the proportion of households having emptied their faeces tank is also really low, on average 20% of the total urban population, even though tariffs are cheap. Furthermore, most of the faecal sludge collected by domestic private operators is directly discharged into the environment. This is due to high transportation costs to reach few or inexistent treatment plants. This situation raises the issue of public control and regulation both on household practices and private operators over this competitive and relatively efficient market. This paper also highlights the difficulties to regulate this kind of service, the importance of adapted institutional arrangements, following cities characteristics (size of market, treatment and transport technologies). [authors abstract]