Letter: What next for Siza Water?

Former Dolphin Coast councillor Ian Coates writes:

Further to the letter from Trevor Thompson, Feisal Dawood and myself (“Dolphin Coast council and Siza saved the day, Courier February 26) and to keep some focus on the near-future in regard to the prospects of maintaining the water and sanitation service levels here at the former “Dolphin Coast”, the rate-payers and residents in this part of iLembe District need to be made aware of a time-line in the fairly near future.

The next piece of the puzzle is the last few laps, as the Siza Water concession agreement runs out in 2028 – only 7 years away.

What are the prospects after that?

The options in the Concession Agreement (upon conclusion at 30 years), are:

1. Hand over the entire operation and its assets to the water and sanitation services regulating authority (now iLembe District Municipality).

2. Negotiate an extension to the concession. These options should be made public and the communities served by iLembe should be made aware of the consequences whichever the choice.

Some questions in my mind would be:

What diligence has been undertaken by iLembe, in preparation for a take-over?

What capacity and range of fiscal and technical acumen is embedded in the iLembe administration? Does this measure up to the levels of service excellence currently delivered by Siza Water?

3. How do levels of service, cost and proper system maintenance compare between Siza and the rest of iLembe areas at present?

4. What happens to the Siza Water personnel, if or when iLembe takes over the Siza operation?

My take is that if municipal government does take over (an option that is stipulated in the agreement), then we will most likely soon become just another statistic in the long list of failed municipal entities that have plagued our country and rendered water and sanitation services effectively dysfunctional.