New Zealand Legislation: Bills

32 Joint local government arrangements and joint arrangements with other entities

• (1) Section 137(2)(a) is amended by omitting “15” and substituting “35”.

  (1) Section 137(2) is amended by repealing paragraph (a) and substituting the following paragraph:

  • “(a) a joint arrangement for a term not longer than 35 years (except a concession or other franchise agreement relating to the provision of the water services or any aspect of the water services):”.

  (2) Section 137(3)(b) is amended by omitting “; and”.

  (3) Section 137(3)(c) is repealed.

  (4) Section 137(4) is repealed and the following subsections substituted:

  • “(4) If a local government organisation enters into a joint arrangement under subsection (2)(a), it must—

    • “(a) continue to be legally responsible for providing the water services; and

    • “(b) retain control over the following matters:

      • “(i) the pricing of water services; and

      • “(ii) the development of policy related to water services; and

    • “(c) after the end of the joint arrangement, retain ownership of all the infrastructure associated with the water service, whether or not the infrastructure was—

      • “(i) provided by the local government organisation at the beginning of the joint arrangement; or

      • “(ii) developed or purchased during the joint arrangement; and

    • “(d) not sell or transfer ownership of any existing infrastructure associated with the water service, unless the local government organisation reasonably believes that the sale is—

      • “(i) incidental to the joint arrangement; and

      • “(ii) desirable for the success of the joint arrangement.

  • “(5) In this section, concession or other franchise agreement means an agreement under which a person other than the local government organisation is entitled to receive a payment from any person other than the local government organisation for the supply of the water service.”