My understanding is that the rationale behind Three Waters is that councils are so indebted they can’t afford to borrow the billions required to rebuild the infrastructure without risking a credit rating downgrade. Instead, the plan is to create an independent entity which can borrow billions by leveraging councils’ water assets as collateral.
Isn’t this like using your credit card to pay your mortgage?
The state is about to "steal" Nelmac contracting from Nelson ratepayers for 3 waters. There goes our collateral.