Minister warns about spread of bacteria
An outbreak of food-borne listeria bacteria had claimed 36 lives and infected almost 600 people in SA, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Tuesday, warning that newborns and the elderly were particularly at risk.
Migration and urbanisation have strained SA’s ageing and poorly maintained water and sanitation infrastructure, a water summit heard on Tuesday.
As a result scores of municipalities experience chronic system failures. Communities frequently go without piped water, sometimes for weeks on end.
No fewer than three ministers — those of water and sanitation, of energy and of small business development — rallied in a call for investment in infrastructure in SA’s water and sanitation sector at the Water Infrastructure Investment Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre on Tuesday.
The ministers agreed, with emphasis, that the state could not be expected to bear the funding burden on its own and that the only way the challenges would be met was through private-public partnerships.
The Department of Water and Sanitation estimates the investment gap over 10 years varies from R330bn on new infrastructure to up to R1- trillion if all infrastructure maintenance, upgrades and planned initiatives were considered.
The summit was the first such call for investment.
Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane said it did not constitute a change in policy but an effort to turn policy into action. “Let’s not reinvent the wheel,” she said.
There was no “new money in the fiscus”, she said, while acknowledging that investors had the right to expect a return. She committed her department to restoring dysfunctional water supply and sanitation systems, and providing capacity support to municipalities.
Energy Minister David Mahlobo said there was no policy uncertainty in water or in energy, because water and energy were “shared endowments”.
He said investments in water and energy in Africa would be wise, but investors had to understand the government wanted partnerships, “not a master-servant relationship”.
Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu said investors should not lose sight of small business. She did say, however, that a lack of interdepartmental communication constrained development, with projects undertaken in isolation. Local government had economic agencies in place, she said, but not the right people.
Snowy Khoza, the executive chairwoman of infrastructure management firm Bigen Africa, said SA had a project funding model in the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) and the money was available.
But the biggest challenge in the water sector was poor project preparation. “Projects need to be bankable.”
TCTA chairwoman Zodwa Manase agreed, saying that the state did not have the skills to handle mega projects but that the skills were available in the private sector.
Mokonyane said the summit was a first step and would be followed by a year-long Investment Stewardship Initiative.
The minister envisaged a water and sanitation investment strategy by 2019.