Papakura District Council: Water and Wastewater Franchise

Hon Doug Kidd
Speaker
House of Representatives
WELLINGTON

Mr Speaker

I am pleased to forward this report to you for presentation to the House of Representatives pursuant to section 33 of the Public Finance Act 1977.

The franchise agreement entered into by the Papakura District Council for the maintenance and operation of its water and wastewater services was the first of its type in New Zealand by a local authority for an essential service. We are aware that other authorities are investigating this option for the delivery of their water and wastewater and other services. Accordingly, we considered that it was timely to investigate the situation in Papakura and to highlight issues and lessons to be learned.

The use of a franchise agreement of this type can be a viable option for the delivery of local authority services. However, there are inherent risks which must be minimised through the actions of local authorities in the development, implementation, management and monitoring of such an agreement.

Our audit has identified a number of these risks and we hope that other authorities will benefit from a greater awareness of the processes which need to be followed in order to make such an arrangement work.

D J D Macdonald
Controller and Auditor-General

Wellington

30 April 1998