Changes

In this paper, we deal with the cost of sanitation and compare it is compared to an alternative asset investment option: a (low cost) motorcycle.

One of the most common means of transport in for instance Kenya or Uganda is a motor cyclemotorcycle. In view of its affordability, Chinese motorcycles have become the standard in Africa. With a given manufacturing cost in China and a known cost in shipping, local sales prices are an indicator of the state of the local economy. The resale value of the motorcycles is - just as in the case of sanitation systems - quite low. SoTherefore, against this we are formulating our hypothesis: if your sanitation system (barring the arborloo and toilets linked to a biogas system) is half or less of the cost of a motorcycle, the sanitation system is well priced. Or, in other words, if two sanitation systems cost more than one cheap motorcycle, the emphasis needs to be on lowering the cost of the sanitation systems per se.

This comparison offers a basic, though practical , tool to evaluate costing.