SHAH ALAM, 26 Nov: The failure of the Selangor Water Supply Company (SYABAS) to reduce non-revenue water (NRW) to 20 percent as stipulated in the concession agreement is considered a ‘sin’ to the people of Selangor.
The Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, said that SYABAS’ failure is not due to lack of provisions, but because of the concessionaire’s weakness in planning and implementing the NRW reduction programme effectively.
He said that only 3,900 million litres per day (MLD) of water reaches consumers compared to the actual capacity of 4,832 MLD by the 32 water treatment plants.
“This failure has resulted in our lack of treated water and the state government is of the opinion that SYABAS and its parent company, Puncak Niaga, are not capable in terms of management and capital strength to resolve the matter.
“There is more that 30 percent of NRW leakages, while in the agreement signed between the state government and SYABAS in 2011, the concessionaire promised to bring it down to 19.98 or 20 percent.
“However, what is happening now is that the NRW is no longer at 30 percent, but has increased to 33 percent,” he said during the Selangor State Assembly (DNS) today.
Abdul Khalid said that water management is important because it is the right of all citizens, regardless of rank or political affiliation, since water is a necessity in daily living. In fact, SYABAS promised to bring down the NRW through provisions of RM784 million given by the state government, and the receipt of additional funding of over RM1 billion to implement the matter.
He said that SYABAS also ‘large cables’ to receive loans amounting to RM00 million interest-free for five years from the federal government.
“I would like to say that Selangor is facing a problem when the privatisation of water cannot be managed in the way promised in the privatisation of water agreement by SYABAS. Now, the state government’s duty is to solve the problem of water structuring and I will take the people of Selangor to Now, the task of restructuring the state is to solve the problem of water and I’m going to take the people of Selangor to fight one does not allow us control of their assets, “he said.
Meanwhile, when commenting on the freezing of SYABAS’s capital expenditure (CAPEX) which should have been used to replace 8,000 kilometres of water pipes, Abdul Khalid said that the move was decided after finding that the water concessionaire is unable to implement it.
He said that the State Economic Planning Unit (UPEN) is ready to call all council members from Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and Barisan Nasional (BN) to explain the matter.
“This matter has been discussed since 2006 and is admitted by the central government that SYABAS does not have the ability to do so. UPEN is ready to call all council members to explain this matter,” he said.