South Africa’s Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is progressing with plans to establish the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA), targeting completion by April 2026. The department provided an update on the agency’s development to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation.
“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, Chairperson of the committee.
The NWRIA is being established through legislation passed during the sixth Parliament. The agency is intended to support the reliable provision of water from infrastructure with acceptable levels of risk, and to contribute to sustainable national, regional, social, economic, and environmental objectives. It will also be responsible for securing funding and managing the implementation, operation, and maintenance of water resources infrastructure.
There is an ongoing concern regarding the state’s capacity to deliver water infrastructure projects at the scale required to meet national needs. In response, the NWRIA is expected to increase investment in the sector, potentially growing annual investment from approximately R10 billion to R30 billion. The agency will also seek to consolidate responsibilities currently distributed among the DWS, the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA), and the Water Trading Entity. By doing so, it aims to create a structure capable of raising funds on its own balance sheet.
The agency is intended to support the reliable provision of water from infrastructure with acceptable levels of risk, and to contribute to sustainable national, regional, social, economic, and environmental objectives
The committee welcomed the department’s briefing and noted the existence of a technical coordination mechanism between the DWS and TCTA. This mechanism includes workstreams covering technical, financial, legal, human resources, governance, IT, and communications areas.
Regarding governance, the department indicated that the term of the current TCTA board concludes in December 2025. The DWS intends to recommend that the Minister extend the board’s term until the NWRIA is operational. Once the agency is established, the TCTA will be disestablished.
While acknowledging progress, the committee emphasized the importance of risk mitigation to prevent the agency from facing governance and administrative issues similar to those experienced by other state-owned entities. The committee also pointed to concerns around debt in the water sector and stressed the need for safeguards to protect the NWRIA’s financial sustainability, particularly in relation to service payment defaults.
Some committee members raised questions about the risks of leveraging assets to fund development, noting that failure to repay loans could affect the country’s water sovereignty. However, the TCTA’s record of successfully repaying loans over a 40-year period was cited as reassurance that the NWRIA could maintain similar financial discipline.
The committee requested regular updates on the agency’s development and expressed its intention to expedite the finalisation of the NWRIA Amendment Bill. The bill aims to clarify the agency’s public entity status and ensure alignment with the Public Finance Management Act.
