Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane on Tuesday tabled the Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS’) R12.48-billion budget for the 2014/15 financial year, stating that the department’s spending focus for the period would be on providing regional bulk infrastructure for water and wastewater treatment works that linked water sources to local government infrastructure.

She noted that the budget was based on the former Department of Water Affairs’ 2014/15 Annual Performance Plan and focused mainly on water, as all matters relating to sanitation would only be transferred to the DWS by the end of September.

“As guided by the National Development Plan, the African National Congress manifesto and the second National Water Resource Strategy, we have resolved that we will apply a seamless[ly] integrated water approach that will ensure that we provide a sustainable and holistic value chain of water supply from source to tap and from tap back to source,” Mokonyane said.

She added that as the department strived to consolidate its successes it would, with immediate effect, use the 2014/15 budget to deal with 10% of existing services that were dysfunctional as well as with a further 26% where the provision of water was not reliable.

Mokonyane stated that R7.78-billion of the 2014/15 budget would be allocated to the regional implementation programme, while R2.92-billion would be allocated to water resources infrastructure and R1.03-billion to administration.

Further, R597.8-million was allocated to water sector management, R121.5-million to water sector regulation and R32.5-million to international water cooperation.

In addition, the DWS would also transfer R2.6-billion in 2014/15, R3.7-billion in 2015/16 and R4-billion in 2016/17 to the Water Trading Entity through the water infrastructure management programmes.

“We are also developing strategic sourcing and localisation to focus on local content and, in this regard, we are collaborating with three departments – the Department of Trade and Industry, National Treasury and the Department of Economic Development,” Mokonyane said.

Meanwhile, the Minister noted that since her appointment she had visited a few provinces to witness the challenges faced by communities regarding water and sanitation.

“To date, we have engaged with the premiers of the Western Cape, Free State and North West,” Mokonyane said, adding that, in response to President Jacob Zuma’s commitment to strengthen the capacity of local municipalities, a number of support interventions in specific municipalities had been identified and would be implemented “as a matter of extreme urgency”.

She also stressed that to ensure the delivery of water and sanitation services to all South Africans, the department was charged with the responsibility of integrating its work through infrastructure development for the eradication of backlogs and sustained delivery of high-quality services.

“To facilitate effective and timely investment, a comprehensive investment framework for the water and sanitation sector is being developed in terms of SIP [strategic integrated project] 18. This framework will inform budgeting and integrated planning based on a life-cycle approach, which includes planning and construction costs, operation and maintenance, financing costs and the costs of sustainable water management,” Mokonyane  said, stating that required capital investment in new water and sanitation infrastructure for the entire value chain over the next ten years was projected at R670-billion.

“On the basis of current projected budget allocations, about 45% of this is currently funded. The [balance of these] investments will have to be funded from on-budget and off-budget sources through partnership with the private sector,” she pointed out.