Water Licensing

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Licensing

The Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority Act, Cap 414 gives EWURA the mandate to issue, renew and cancel licenses of service providers in the regulated sectors. Existing license holders and potential license applicants may submit their applications to EWURA for a new license or license renewal. EWURA considers license applications and decides whether or not to grant a license or license renewal by using fair and non-discriminatory procedures.

Licensed Utilities

It is mandatory for water supply and sanitation service providers, to obtain a license from EWURA. Licenses issued by EWURA are categorized in three classes, which are Class I, Class II and Class III Licenses. The classification criteria’s are as set out in detailed criteria for awarding Class I, II and III Licenses.

  • CLASS I: License which shall be issued to a licensee who has a financial, technical and managerial capability to operate a licensed facility and recover all costs of operation.
  • CLASS II: License which shall be issued to a licensee who has technical and managerial capability to operate a licensed facility and recover all costs of operation except part of its investment cost.
  • CLASS III: License which shall be issued to a licensee who still gets financial, managerial and technical support from the Government and partially recover its operational costs.

Water Authorities under Class II and III shall be required to improve their performance to be measured according to the classification criteria’s in order to qualify to a higher Class.

Procedures for issuance of the licences

Procedures for issuance of the licenses have been elaborated in the Water Supply and Sanitation Service (Licensing and Quality of Services) Rules, 2020-GN 849 Applications is through LOIS  and must be accompanied by the technical  information sheet which is used by EWURA for evaluation and issuance of a license.

Issued licences

EWURA has issued licenses to Water Supply and Sanitation Authorities  with ten years term  as summarized below.

 Summary of Licensees’ Status

No.      Type of Utilities           No. of Utilities Licensed Utilities     License Class   Duration

1          DAWASA                                     1                         1                               NA               NA

2          Regional WSSAs                       24                      23                            NA               10yrs

3          District WSSAs                          73                        71                                I           10yrs

4          National Projects WSSAs          7                         7                              III            10yrs

5          Small Town WSSAs                  24                        14                              III                  10yrs

Total                                                        129                       116                          III

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