BN pins water crisis on Selangor state company

Selangor BN committee chairperson Mohd Zin Mohamed blames the state government company Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd (KDEB) for the recent shortage of water in certain parts of Selangor.

Utusan Malaysia today quotes Mohd Zin as saying that KDEB director Suhaimi Kamaralzaman issued a leter to Konsortium Abbas Sdn Bhd (Abbas) last year to reduce its treated water production from 145 million gallons to 120 million gallons a day.

"This caused a water crisis in Kajang and Balakong as Abbas manages the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant.

"The question is, why did Suhaimi give such an instruction to Abbas? Is KDEB or the state government attempting to sabotage the people of Selangor and Syabas?" Mohd Zin (above) is quoted as saying.

Abbas is one of three companies managing water treatment plants in Selangor, with the other two being Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd and Syarikat Pengeluaran Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash).

However, Syabas - which is 70 percent owned by Puncak Niaga - is in charge of water distribution in the state and deals with consumers directly, including billing them.

Mohd Zin in the report also questioned why was Syabas was being blamed, even though the treatment plant involved was managed by Abbas.

Syabas had said at a recent briefing that the water shortage had been relieved after it diverted water from the newly operational Sungai Labu water treatment plan.

However, this was not a long-term measure and Syabas did not rule out the possibility of water rationing in the future.

Protest over debt

On another matter, Berita Harian reported today that some 100 staff of Jana Niaga Sdn Bhd (JNSB) had protested at the entrance of Universiti Selangor (Unisel) yesterday over the bed owed the company.

Selangor BN deputy chairperson Noh Omar claimed Unisel owed JNSB almost RM15 million, which included outstanding payment for the main campus maintenance cost and the university's hostel operations.

For this, JNSB had turned away new students from its hostels, forcing Unisel to postpone its student registration to Aug 27.

Unisel vice-chancellor Anuar Ahmad had said that the debt recovery between Unisel, the Selangor government and JNSB would go through an arbitration process.

JNSB was given the task of developing and managing student accommodation at the university's main campus in Bestari Jaya, Kuala Selangor.