The vacancy rate in the Department across all programmes is quite high, and of concern to the Committee. However, of particular importance is the unavailability of professional specialists (namely engineers, technicians, project managers, amongst others) within the Occupational Sector Dispensation. This impacts negatively on the implementation of projects, and may compromise the efficacy of attaining the Department's core objectives, that is, the provisioning of bulk water infrastructure for effective water service delivery. The Committee requested further details on the way in which the Department would address the issue.