The Department of Water and Sanitation will only deliver a water plan for South Africa at the end of the 2018/19 financial year.
“I am aware that we committed to complete the water plan by the end of August 2016; however, owing to the large scale of the work, extensive data, resource requirements and the need for broad consultations, the final plan . . . can only be delivered at the end of the 2018/19 financial year,” Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane noted in response to a Parliamentary question by ANC MP Lulu Johnson.
The National Water and Sanitation Master Plan will incorporate a comprehensive perspective on water and sanitation and determine the investment required for effective water resources and sanitation services management.
It will also identify ways to facilitate effective integrated investment planning and implementation.
Mokonyane pointed out that draft concept papers for the water resources and water services chapters of the plan had been prepared and that various experts would be co-opted at an appropriate time.
She noted that a technical task team had been established and departmental units had been put in place for various facets of the development of the master plan.
“My department has also secured the support of an expert from the Netherlands, who will assist with the integration of the various specialist inputs into the final master plan,” Mokonyane said.