BOTT Eastern Cape and Limpopo
| The Challenge The water service backlog, identified by the South African Government in 1994, saw 18 million people without water and 21 million without sanitation. Since 1994, government has committed to progressively eliminate this backlog to meet and exceed the UN Millennium Goals. The Solution The Department of Water Affairs awarded contracts, through a tender process, to provide sustainable water access to the rural poor in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape. These National Government and European Union funded BoTT (build, operate, train and transfer) contracts provided a rapid delivery mechanism for integrated project implementation, incorporating: * structures, project conceptualisation, environmental scoping, project planning and design * Construction (water plants, reservoirs, reticulation schemes) * Community consultation and buy-in, local job creation and skills development * Institutional and social development to ensure long-term sustainability * Operation and maintenance, with extensive training and skills transfer for local structures * Transfer of a going concern to the local municipality (Water Services Authority) and mentorship following transfer of infrastructure * Customer management WSSA, in partnership with construction, consultant engineers, NGOs, emerging empowerment groups and SMEs, was appointed the programme implementing agent in the Eastern Cape and in Limpopo. Achievements * In consultation with local communities representative structures, project conceptualisation, environmental scoping, project planning and design * Through BoTT, WSSA has helped provide access to safe potable water to over 2.2 million low income individuals in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo provinces * Independent evaluations undertaken by the World Bank and the European Union reported that BoTT succeeded in helping South Africa reach the UN Millennium Development Goals (over 250 projects implemented in five years) * Creation of numerous sustainable local black-owned enterprises in the fields of engineering, construction, social development, plumbing, communications, etc * 40% of contract value was channelled to local emerging black-owned companies, thereby contributing to job creation, enterprise development and empowerment of local communities |
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