Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane says the upcoming Department of Water and Sanitation summit comes at a time when numerous sector role players are looking seriously at the issue of the investment climate for water and sanitation, in light of ongoing service delivery needs, drought and flood challenges and ageing infrastructure.
In partnership with the Water Research Commission, the summit will also showcase constraints and solutions, and emerging innovations and solutions in the water industry.
.Investors, funders, project developers, policymakers, regulators and local government partners will engage one another to help shift the water and sanitation sector investment landscape to a space that is open and enabling for investment and inclusive growth opportunities.
“We need to emphasise that the Water Infrastructure Investment Summit and Stewardship initiative are intended to drive this coordinated, strategy-focused approach,”
Mokonyane said, while speaking at a pre-summit launch in Johannesburg earlier this week.
Minister Mokonyane also said the summit will be followed by a year-long Investment Stewardship initiative.
The investment project opportunities and needs identified in the summit will be pulled into a series of focused, specific engagements, led by a range of different water sector organisations.
“The medium-term objective of the project will be to initiate a process that will inform a Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Investment Strategy for South Africa by 2019,” the minister said.
The exact scope of work for the stewardship initiative will be informed at the summit.
