The agricultural industry has congratulated the government on the signing of the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency SOC Ltd Act and the creation of the Infrastructure Agency.
Janse Rabie, Head of Agri SA's Natural Resource Centre of Excellence said amongst significant structural reforms in the water sector in recent times (including the creation of the remaining catchment management agencies and the transformation of irrigation boards to water users associations), they regarded this as a milestone for water resource management in South Africa.
“Of note for the agricultural sector will be the assimilation of the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority into the Agency and the reconfiguration of an in-house construction unit. We hope that with the proper governance and oversight mechanisms in place, this will create much-needed efficiency with respect to the delivery of water infrastructure in South Africa. We also note that the Water Trading Entity’s functions will be moved from the Department of Water and Sanitation to the Agency. This will mean that the Agency will, once fully up and running, also deal with the pricing and billing of raw water utilised by farmers,” Rabie said.
On Wednesday, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) welcomed the signing of the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency SOC Ltd Bill by President Cyril Ramaphosa, after it was tabled in Parliament by former Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu a year ago.
DWS said apart from grants to municipalities to address infrastructure backlogs and to enable municipalities to provide free basic water to the indigent, the water sector had to be self-financing through revenues from the sale of water. It said the operation, maintenance and development of national water resource infrastructure were all funded from the sale of raw water to industries, the water boards and municipalities.
The development of new national water resource infrastructure was said to be mostly funded from loans raised in the financial markets. Revenue from the sale of water was used to pay off these loans.
DWS said ownership of existing national water infrastructure assets, along with the revenue streams associated with these assets, would be transferred to the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA) once it was established. “The Agency will therefore have a substantial balance sheet, on the basis of which it will be able to raise finance in the markets for additional water resource infrastructure projects. Increased investment in national water resource infrastructure will increase water security in South Africa.”
With irrigation agriculture being the largest consumer of South Africa’s raw water resources, AgriSA said it looked forward to contributing to the success of the Agency in the management of South Africa’s water infrastructure as much depended on it.
On the other hand, AfriForum warned that the approval of legislation that paves the way for the establishment of a new state-owned agency that must develop and manage bulk water infrastructure, known as the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA), should not be considered the government’s top priority amid the current water crisis. The civil rights organisation maintained that poor municipal management of water resources currently posed the biggest threat to water security and was therefore much more urgent than the establishment of yet another agency in state hands.
Despite the poor track record of almost all state-owned entities, AfriForum said it did not reject the creation of the NWRIA out of hand. However, the organisation argued that the value chain that must ensure the country’s water security was only as strong as its weakest link. Municipalities that fail to deliver water services to end-users have already broken this chain, it added.
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