NWASCO urges strengthening of legal framework in water sector

NWASCO urges strengthening of legal framework in water sector
By Florence Bupe
Thu 07 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

NATIONAL Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO) chairperson Cosmas Musumali has called for the strengthening of the legal framework governing the water sector.

Dr Musumali said it was important to appreciate the current legal environment and put measures in place to strengthen the systems for enhanced sector development.

He said the subject of ensuring a balance between service delivery and tariff rates was critical in attaining sustainable development in the sector.

“We need to appreciate the current legal environment and critically look at the obligation of balancing service delivery with tariffs between service providers and consumers. Services have to be of reasonable standards and we realise that we still have a long way to go in attaining this goal,” he said.

Dr Musumali said the water sector had not performed well in fostering public private partnerships (PPPs) which could increase productive competition.

He said there was need for recapitalisation of most aspects of the water sector to improve service delivery and increase population coverage.

“We need huge capitalisation projects in the sector and this will require human resource capacity building. Currently, we have critical human resource concerns,” said Dr Musumali.
And energy minister Kenneth Konga acknowledged the need for increased government investment into the water sector.

“Government is aware of the urgent need for more investments and increased funding in the water sector, and we are already working towards increasing funding by increasing the budgetary allocation from 2.7 per cent last year to five percent in 2010,” said Konga.