Question NW903 to the Minister of Water and Sanitation
20 March 2025 - NW903
Hadebe, Mr N to ask the Minister of Water and Sanitation
What are the relevant details of the role of the new state-owned entity reporting to her, the SA National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency, in rehabilitating and maintaining ageing infrastructure?
Reply:
The NWRIA Act was only passed last year and the NWRIA is currently in the process of being established. Establishing the NWRIA involves merging the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) and some parts of DWS into a new entity. It is planned to be fully established by April 2026.
The Act states that the scope of work of the NWRIA is limited to national water resource infrastructure. The role of the NWRIA is to provide, operate, and maintain national water resources infrastructure in a manner that takes account of the national development objectives, including the mitigation of climate change and other risks to a reliable water supply.
This will be done by ensuring that maintenance, refurbishment, rehabilitation programmes are implemented timeously as per the requirements of South African legislation and standards, including the Government Immovable Asset Management Act (GIAMA) which provides for a uniform framework for the management of an immovable asset that is held or used by a national or provincial department or any other entity.
The NWRIA will collect water-use charges in terms of Chapter 5 of the National Water Act and the pricing strategy put in place by the Minister in terms of section 56 of the National Water Act. The water-use charges collected will fund the maintenance, rehabilitation, refurbishment and betterment of national water resource infrastructure assets.