S. Africa Forms Company to Expand Bulk Water Infrastructure

(Bloomberg) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa approved a law to set up a new agency that will develop and manage the country’s water infrastructure and attract financing for new projects.

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The law establishes the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency SOC Ltd. that will “enable South Africa to expand bulk water infrastructure and improve the management of existing water assets to ensure water security over the next decade,” the presidency said in a statement on Tuesday.

It will also seek to address the current fragmentation in water resource management between the Department of Water and Sanitation, the Water Trading Entity and the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, the presidency said.

Africa’s most-industrialized nation faces frequent water outages because of dilapidated infrastructure and inadequately maintained water-supply systems caused by a lack of planning for population growth, mismanagement, corruption and political infighting. Johannesburg Water Management Ltd., which distributes water in the city, loses 44% of the volume supplied to it because of leaks and theft.

The replacement value of South Africa’s national water assets is currently 200 billion rand ($11 billion) to 300 billion rand, Sean Phillips, director-general of the Department of Water and Sanitation, told Bloomberg in an interview in March.

The new legislation forms part of reforms “aimed at increasing investment in the maintenance and construction of water infrastructure and improved water quality,” the presidency said.

--With assistance from Antony Sguazzin.

(Updates with plan to deal with fragmentation in third paragraph, replacement value in fifth)

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