Plan unveiled for converting TCTA into national water-infrastructure agency

9th April 2021

By: Natasha Odendaal

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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State-owned entity Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) has been put forward as a possible potential proto agency for the implementation of the new National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA).

On February 11, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the establishment of the NWRIA would be accelerated.

Contributing to the debate on this year’s State of the Nation Address, in February, Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said that the legislation to establish the agency had been finalised and would be ready for tabling during the second half of this year, after all the public consultations had been done.

“TCTA is looking forward to this big challenge and is hopeful that it will be considered the ideal entity to herald in this new era in water management in the country,” says CEO Percy Sechemane.

The TCTA has tabled its plans with Sisulu, and will, in due course, share its progress and the plans being mapped out with stakeholders upon the perusal and final approval by the Minister, he said during an update on the authority’s 2019/20 financial year outcomes.

TCTA believes it is the potential nucleus of Phase 1 of the two-phase, three-year implementation plan, the first steps of which have already started.

A proto agency, possibly the TCTA, will be formed during the first year of implementation.

The formation of the agency would simplify the institutional arrangements by removing one layer of transactions from the value chain, reducing risks and increasing integration efficiencies, while allowing for cross subsidisation within the water sector, from the metropolitan areas to the rural municipalities, which do not have an economic base to sustain their infrastructure, says Sechemane.

The establishment of a water agency has been on the cards for a long time.

Sisulu says that the primary objective of the agency, which will work extensively with municipalities, water boards, financial institutions, the agriculture community and other sector institutions, including mining, will be to sustain and improve the performance of all strategically important water supply systems in regions where water security is at increasing risk.

This process will bring together some of the sector’s strongest capabilities in a single government-owned entity.

“The agency will strengthen the ability of the water sector to fund, build and operate the large water resource projects on which South Africa depends for its water security. This forms part of the President’s infrastructure investment pipeline worth R340-billion.

“It will function very much along the lines of the national road network entity, South African National Roads Agency, but without toll booths,” she explains.

The strategic intent is to establish a well-resourced State-owned enterprise, with appropriate governance structures, to ensure greater efficiency and accountability in the socioeconomic development and management of water resources infrastructure, says Sechemane.

“At this stage, all these functions are separated and we are not getting economies of scale and the full [spectrum of] assets sitting within the State is not being used [to its full potential],” he says.

The NWRIA also aims to fast-track national advancement towards universal access to basic water supply, as well as fulfil the constitutional right to sufficient water, food, a healthy environment and wellbeing.

The agency will be responsible for the provision of ‘water for all’ in the most equitable manner, ensuring that ordinary South Africans have access to sufficient clean water, providing the economy with sufficient water to be functional and able to expand, and supporting the vision of universal dignified sanitation.

“This is a much-needed entity to ensure that our ageing infrastructure is properly maintained and that the most far-flung places of our country enjoy the benefits of clean water that you and I enjoy on a daily basis,” Sisulu concludes. EN

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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