The Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation today welcomed the commendable progress made by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) in establishing the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA) but called for a strong governance framework and mitigation of risk to ensure its success.
"While we acknowledge the value proposition offered by rationalisation of various entities within the DWS to a single entity to ensure effective development and maintenance of the country's water infrastructure, it is important that risk mitigation procedures are built into the system to ensure efficiency and success. Effective operation of assets and ensuring revenue collection through water sales is critical to ensure the sustainability of the entity," said Mr Leon Basson, the Chairperson of the committee.
The committee also said that the agency must not end up like other state-owned entities that have struggled due to governance and administrative challenges. In addition, the committee remains acutely aware that there is a general challenge of debt within the water value chain, hence the call for safeguards to ensure that the agency does not suffer in the long term due to non-payment for services.
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Furthermore, some members raised a concern that leveraging assets had an inherent risk of placing South Africa's water sovereignty at risk if the agency is unable to repay loans taken for infrastructure development. Nonetheless, the committee highlighted that the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority's (TCTA's) 40-year history of repaying its loans is enough assurance that the NWRIA can do likewise.
The committee has long called for public-private partnerships as a way of attracting additional investments in the water sector. The potential to triple the current annual investment in the development of water infrastructure should be encouraged in line with the need to fully unlock water's socio-economic potential.
The committee noted and welcomed the assurance that commendable work has been done to ensure that the NWRIA is established by April 2026. In line with this, the committee noted that the Minister intends to gazette a notice opening applications to serve on the NWRIA board. The committee called on the department to ensure that a strong board is appointed with the skills to ensure that the agency operates on solid ground.
It is also important that the department keeps it promise that TCTA and DWS employees will be transferred with the same conditions of service. The committee reiterates that employees remain a critical pillar of the NWRIA's work and retaining skills is critical to its success.
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For its part, the committee has committed to finalising the NWRIA Amendment Bill, a technical Bill that was tabled in Parliament on 24 April 2025. The committee will enhance processes to finalise the Bill to ensure that the agency is established as per the timeline.
Meanwhile, the committee has called for periodic updates on the establishment process.
