DWS consultations on the establishment of infrastructure agency set in motion
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) through the Chief Directorate; Water Institutions Management has commenced with a two-day internal consultation on the establishment of the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA). The consultations for the bill which seeks to address issues of water securities and socio-economic growth and development are taking place at CSIR convention centre east of Pretoria from 03-04 March 2022.
These sessions are intended to facilitate stakeholders’ participation, raise awareness, capacity building and knowledge sharing to ensure buy-in, and in addition are aimed at paving a way forward towards the formation of a state-owned entity. This entity is envisaged to undertake the building, operation, financing and maintenance of national water resources assets, whilst DWS retains responsibility for planning, regulation, policy and price setting.
Participants at the first day of the internal consultation included the DWS Deputy Directors General, Chief Directors, Provincial Heads, as well as Chief Executive Officers of water entities and water boards.
During the State of the Nation address in 2022, President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasised that the establishment of the NWRIA will be accelerated and he further announced that legislation has been prepared for the establishment of the Agency, and will be published for public comment within a month.
Eustathia Bofilatos, acting Chief Director for Institutional Oversight at the Department of Water and Sanitation indicated that upon the completion of these consultations which include engaging labour unions, the draft bill will be submitted to the cluster and published for public comment by April 2022 and will be tabled in Cabinet by May 2022.
“If everything goes according to plan, the final bill will be submitted to Parliament in July 2022 and the NWRIA is anticipated to be passed by January 2023 depending on the Parliament processes. In addition, we expect the board of the new agency and CEO to be appointed by May 2023”. Eustathia stated.
According to James Ndlovu, a project manager for NWRIA, the existence of this new vehicle will be to provide raw water and its main focus will be on the under-served, and the poor to ensure a sustainable, equitable and reliable supply of water from national water resources infrastructure.
“A lot more investments in water infrastructure projects is required to guarantee water security in the country, this agency will foster private partnerships to make certain that challenges related to water and sanitation are addressed’’, Ndlovu said.
Furthermore, Ndlovu indicated that NWRIA will be enabled to perform its functions by means of transferring the national water resources assets to it as well as the staff of the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA), the Water Trading Entities (WTE) and the Infrastructure Branch of the department.
The Department of Water and Sanitation reiterated that the establishment of the agency will be inclusive of the existing skills in the sector and will create additional capacity. It is envisaged that this will not results in any job losses.
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