South Africa’s government is in support of private sector collaborations as a means to ensure water security and the treatment of wastewater across Africa.

Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu, expressing support for investment in water infrastructure, particularly in wastewater, by the private sector in Africa, says that the demand for water and sanitation infrastructure development and refurbishment in South Africa has been increasing owing to population and economic growth.

The current rate of infrastructure development has to be increased to sustain and support growth in the country, he said during a panel discussion at the Stockholm World Water Week conference on August 29, noting that, by 2030, it was expected that there would be a 17% deficit in availability of water to meet the projected demand.

“It is for this reason that we felt that collaboration with the private sector presents a mutually beneficial path towards achieving this goal. It was quite enlightening to behold the enthusiasm from the private sector to be a partner in projects and programmes towards improving the water sector,” he during the panel discussion themed “How can the private sector finance wastewater treatment in Africa?”

In line with this, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) established a Water Partnership Office, with the assistance of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, to serve as a special purpose vehicle to facilitate partnerships and manage joint accounts for specific funding for projects implemented through collaboration.

The office also manages special programmes such as water conservation and demand management, particularly reducing nonrevenue water, water reuse, wastewater treatment improvement and seawater desalination, besides others.

“The Water Partnership Office is in the process of being adequately capacitated with the necessary skills to ensure that both public and private sector are served well. This means that government will benefit from this additional capacity to manage partnerships,” says Mchunu.

The benefits of private sector collaboration will entail offset programmes to allow the private sector to assist municipalities with water conservation and demand management and availing the savings for economic development within such communities.

Further, the DWS is engaging the agricultural sector; earmarking collaboration in investing in the refurbishment and upgrades of strategic canal systems to sustain food production in the country.