The Portfolio Committee, while considering the National Environmental Laws Third Amendment Bill, 2013 and the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill, 2013, realized that it was imperative to effect certain technical amendments to the National Water Act in order to achieve the goal of an integrated regulatory framework for water, mining and environment, by specifically providing for the alignment of the timeframes for the processing of the respective applications within 300 days and for the appeals to be adjudicated within 90 days. The Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs and the Minister for Mineral Resources and their respective Departments were consulted on this approach to introduce a Committee Bill and were in full support of this process.