Minister: Syabas' failure reflects Selangor's ineptitude

Any insistence by Selangor that water distributor Syabas should be responsible for the state's water crisis will only reflect the inepitude of the Pakatan Rakyat administration.

This is because the Selangor government is one of the major shareholders of the company, Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin told the Dewan Rakyat.

In a parliamentary reply to Ong Tee Keat (BN-Pandan), Chin (below,left) argued that should Syabas fail to carry out its responsibilities, it will also show the state government's failure as a 30 percent shareholder of the company .

"The state government should use its position in the Syabas board of directors to give warnings to Syabas management if it's not satisfied with Syabas' performance."

Syabas is 70 percent owned by Puncak Niaga with the rest held by two government-linked companies owned by the state government. The federal government, through the Minister of Finance, Inc. holds one golden share.

However, the biggest shareholder, Puncak Niaga, is led by former Selangor Umno treasurer Rozali Ismail, who is currently Puncak Niaga executive chairperson.

The Selangor government has been claiming that the state does not face any imminent water crisis because the current water treatment plants have the capacity to meet consumers' demand but it is Syabas that lacks the distribution capacity, resulting in non-revenue water of 32 percent. 

Reiterating reasons for project 

Chin, in the reply, admitted that "distribution constraints" have caused the distribution capacity to fall to a level slightly higher than the average demand but he did not name the party that should be held responsible or whether there were ways to overcome the constraints.

Hence, the federal government started the project to channel raw water from Pahang to Selangor in 2000 as a long-term solution, explained Chin, but the state government has been delaying approvals for the Langat 2 water treatment plant needed to treat the raw water from the neighbouring state. 

Another reason for the Pahang-Selangor water supply project, said Chin, is that currently 60 percent of raw water supplied to Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajya come from Sungai Selangor, one of the five major rivers in the state supplying raw water to these areas.

Channelling raw water from Pahang would reduce the dependency on Sungai Selangor, thus mitigating potential risks should the river become polluted or its capacity drop during the dry season, Chin explained.

"Again I call on the state government not to politicise the water issue and give cooperation to the federal government to ensure sufficient and continuous water supply to the people in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya."