Queenstown- WSSA/ Copyright SUEZ

Governments:
National Government of South Africa (National Treasury, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Department of Provincial and Local Government), Eastern Cape Provincial Government, Chris Hani District Municipality, Lukhanji (Queenstown) Municipality

Private Sector:
Water and Sanitation Services South Africa (WSSA), an affiliate of Ondeo Services (Suez Group France)

NGO or ISD provider:
To be determined locally pending capacity

Others: Communities represented by a steering committee

Main objective of the initiative:

Expansion of municipal water services to 200,000 inhabitants in the periphery (new demarcated areas) of the two cities , taking into account the specificity of the communities concerned

Antecedents of the project:

The proposed project is a new one , building on the experience of two innovative , on-going public – private partnerships in the same region :

- Build Operate Train and Transfer (BoTT) contract awarded in July 1997 by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) to the Amanz’ Abantu consortium , acting as a Program Implementation Agent (PIA), to develop water and sanitation services in some rural areas of the province : as of 2001, 137 projects have been implemented, serving 700,000 inhabitants in Eastern Cape , on the one hand ; and

- Contracts signed by the municipalities of Queenstown (in 1992) and Stutterheim (in 1994), with the private operator Water and Sanitation South Africa (WSSA) , for the delegated management of their water and waste water services on the other hand. (WSSA is also a member of the above – mentioned Amanz’ Abantu consortium)

Principle of the partnership:

The proposed partnership is a joint effort from the national and municipal governments , NGOs and the private operator to address the issues raised by new territorial organization in RSA , and serve the underprivileged areas within a short timeframe ; it would be phased as follows :

- Phase 1 (2002 - 2003) : definition of an appropriate contractual framework, planning of the overall program , implementation of a pilot project

- Phase 2 (2004 – 2009) : implementation of the full scale project

-Economic concerns

Plan service delivery on community´s demand and willingness to pay to ensure financial viability/sustainability of the project

Micro-credit implementation for access to private facilities (bathrooms, toilets...)

-Social concerns

Training for construction and O&M of the network for communities (ownership of the infrastructure)

Hygiene awareness

-Environmental concerns

Raise consumers awareness on sustainable use of water, energy, protect health and the environment by developing sanitation services in peri-urban districts (cholera epidemic alleviation).

Specific targets

The specific target of the project will be the full coverage of the population of the two municipalities by 2009 , in compliance with the standards of service defined by DWAF , and validated with the communities . The level of service will be adapted to the specific features of the communities involved (type and density of habitat , environmental constraints , willingness to pay …)

The actions to achieve within the life cycle of the project are the following:

- Set up financing principles and mechanisms

- Socio-economic survey

- Urbanization diagnosis

- Define the set of services to be proposed to the community (ex: different types of water supply)

- Define the different options for housing rehabilitation

- Demand assessment and willingness to pay study

- General planning

- Define community organization actions

- Define training programs for the different partners

When this preparatory work is achieved, with financial viability in parallel, the second phase of the project, its physical implementation, will start. The experience gained by several partners in the implementation of the BoTT program will be an asset , as well as the knowledge gained by WSSA in the management of services in the same municipalities for almost ten years

The new territorial organization in RSA drive municipalities to face a growing challenge to serve peri urban areas. This project could serve as an example for further projects. The experience will be evaluate and capitalise in order to develop an appropriate implementation and coordination between stakeholders scheme.

The project is innovative in the implementation for several reasons:

- Involvement of the community at every level of the project implementation and especially in the monitoring/decision bodies.

- Capacity building address to local authorities to improve the project management.

- Building partnership between the civil society, local authorities and the private sector to serve peri-urban / rural areas in South Africa

Coordination and Implementation mechanism

The aim of this partnership is to set up coherent pilot structures which function transparently. To do so three pilot project entities will be established.

Orientation of the project:

- The Multi-Stakeholder Steering Group, where institutions, municipal officials, WSSA, NGOs , trade unions of municipal workers and users are represented. Its task is to define the objectives, level of power and mandate of all parties, control the implementation of the project.

Execution:

- Progress committee: members: donors, users, WSSA. The role of this committee is to assume the means and implementation and to control the advancement of the project.

- Project team: Realize the feasibility studies, planning and coordinate the sub contractors under the control of the progress committee.

Objectives of the different partners

National Government

- Implement the national objective of providing basic services to the whole population

- Support the new municipalities

- Follow – up of the BoTT program in the Eastern Cape Province, after the end of the present contracts (2004)

- Develop an experience about public – private partnerships for the management of municipal services in medium size cities , within the new territorial organization

Municipal Governments

- Adapt their policy for water services to the new situation created by the “demarcation”, which has doubled their initial population through the addition of poor and remote areas to their territory

- Respond to the urgent demand of low income communities

- Protect Health and the environment by developing sanitation services in the periurban districts

- Rely on the professionalism of a private operator

Communities

- Be connected to basic services (most of the inhabitants have neither safe water supply nor appropriate sanitation in their property or close neighborhood)

- Take an active part in the development of the project

- Social services to be set up to accompany the project (hygiene awareness…)

- Have access to micro-credit to facilitate the acquisition of domestic equipment (bathrooms…)

Private Operator

- Play an active role in the social development of the community

- Adapt the existing contractual framework to the new situation

- Demonstrate the efficiency of the delegated management concept to assist the South African municipalities in facing the challenge of serving the poor

- Compliance with the corporate policy of Suez , dealing with the group’s involvement in sustainable development