SHAH ALAM, 31 Mar: The Chief Minister, Mohamed Azmin Ali (PKR-Bukit Antarabangsa), once again reaffirmed the commitment to protect the sovereignty of Selangor which experienced attempts by the Federal Government to violate it through the water industry negotiations.

Speaking at the Selangor State Assembly (DNS) session this morning, he said that the state government will only agree to continue negotiations is the central government agrees to the terms of the original agreement which was signed in September 2014.

“But the central government took a new stance in which the transfer of the ownership of concessionaires’ water assets will be transferred with the land on which the water assets are placed.

“While the original agreement specifically states that water assets owned by concessionaires will only transfer assets and not land,” he said.

Answering several questions at once, Mohamed Azmin said that if the demand is met, then the state government will no longer be the owner of this land.

“Similarly with the 28,000 kilometres of pipe where only 2,000 have been restored and would we want to hand over 26,000 km with 26,000 of land.

“I wish to reaffirm that sovereignty must be defended and not submitted to the central government,” he said.

NS