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dam-l SA Water Dept short of funds/LS

Water affairs department short of R300m to meet targets

August 31, 1998
By Louise Cook

Johannesburg - Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Kader Asmal says his
department lacks funds to meet this year's water supply targets, as R300m
is needed to finish several projects that have ground to a halt.

The department was granted less than half the money it requested for the
current financial year and was seeking funds from the
European Union and government's discretionary fund, Asmal said. Several
projects to provide communities with fresh running
water had to be postponed and there were also unconfirmed reports that
sugar cane farmers near Komati- poort were also short
of water for irrigation.

In KwaZulu-Natal projects in the early stages of development had to be
postponed while in the Eastern Cape 76 projects were
affected. Thys Badenhorst, the KwaZulu-Natal director of water supply and
sanitation, said: "About 20 projects are going ahead on
skeleton staff, but construction has been suspended for the next seven
months. If we do not get additional funds, the province will
run over budget by several million rand."

The department said affected projects were intended to provide water for an
additional 4-million people. throughout the country,
there were still about 12-million people without running water and sanitation.

Meantime, irrigation farmers at Jacobsdal in the Free State are protesting
against what they term the "exorbitant" cost of water. The
water tariff in the area went up by 40% to R692,64/ha recently.

Water advisory committee chairman Kobus Nel said that, besides the actual
cost of the water, farmers were also upset because
they had to pay for a full water quota, even if they did not use the full
quota. "The answer lies in switching to permanent crops like
grapes or citrus, but most farmers are not financially geared to do this.

"They have sunk large investments in irrigation equipment and cannot afford
to switch at the drop of a hat," Nel said. The provincial
water affairs department was not available for comment.



 Copyright © 1998 Business Day. Distributed via Africa News
Online(www.africanews.org). For information about the content or for
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Day at the link above.


Contact: Department Water Affairs and Forestry, South Africa, fax:
+27-12-3261780, http://www-dwaf.pwv.gov.za/idwaf/default.htm
(Business Day, 31 August 1998,
http://www.africanews.org/south/southafrica/stories/19980831_feat18.html)

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      Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
        and Editor, World Rivers Review
           International Rivers Network
              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org
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