Legislative change will allow sewerage sell off

(CNS):Two new laws and an amendmentwill be coming before the Legislative Assembly shortly regarding the management of the country’s water supply and waste management. The various pieces of proposed legislation relating to the provision of water and sewerage were published this week in Extraordinary Gazette No 82 (Tuesday, 30 November). The Waste Water Collection and Treatment Bill, 2010 and the Water Production and Supply Bill, propose to allow Cabinet to issue concessions for the purposes of wastewater collection and treatment, and water production and supply, following advice from the Water Authority. The laws come in the wake of proposals to privatize Cayman’s sewerage system.

The bills also provide for the establishment of a Compensation Assessment Tribunal as well as outline the terms under which concessionaires will operate. Both bills contain a clause stating that once a concession is granted, the concessionaire will be deemed to hold a franchise under the Local Companies (Control) Law (2007 Revision).

The third element is an amendment to the existing Water Authority Law (1996 revision) to give the authority specific powers to regulate the concessionaires.

The bills are available on the Gazette website at www.gazettes.gov.ky and are expected to come before legislators sometime before Christmas during the next meeting which is due to start on 6 December after the premier returns from his latest overseas trip.