An independent economic
water regulator
Since the election of a new leadership, bold steps are now on
the cards to elect an independent economic regulator for water.
By Helgard Muller, Pr Eng
T
he National Development Plan
(NDP 2013) has raised the issue of
an independent economic regulator
for water. The NDP proposed that a
careful assessment should be done on
the specific functions of an independent
economic regulator (IER), as well as the
potential costs and benefits in relation
to the current set-up. This assessment
and process have unfortunately been
delayed through all the leadership
changes and uncertainties at the
helm in the Department of Water and
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Sanitation (DWS). This may soon change.
Information shared with selected
stakeholders at a recent DWS workshop
showed that some bold steps are now on
the cards to move in this direction. Let us
analyse what is the drive behind this and
what an IER can achieve.
It is a common fact that the water
and sanitation sector is not in a good
fin