MP slams SPAN, Puncak Niaga over water woes

As water disruption in parts of Klang valley is expected to last until Chinese New Year, Klang MP Charles Santiago has brought the National Water Services Commission (SPAN), and Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd to task for not carrying out their roles of monitoring the water pumps.

Charles (right) said the issue was not new as there were problems with the Bestari Jaya facility last year, resulting in water disruption in the Klang, Batu Arang and Shah Alam area.

It was found that the problem was due to poor maintenance of the water pumps there.

“Puncak Niaga manages the pumps and it is not Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor’s (Syabas) (duty) although they are inter-related. However, the problem in the Ampang and Gombak area is due to the same problem, (which is) the poor maintenance of the pumps.

“This is aggravated with one of the five pumps in the Wangsa Maju pump station already reported to be faulty since last year and had not been repaired. The issue here is good governance by SPAN and Puncak Niaga as SPAN knows that one of the pumps has been faulty for a year, but did not do anything about it,” he alleged.

The problem with the Wangsa maju facility, Charles explained, began when the four remaining pumps became non-operational, resulting in the mass water disruption across the Klang Valley.

The Klang MP said every pump has its own log and maintenance schedule which Puncak Niaga should abide by and which SPAN is tasked with monitoring as they cannot allow all four pumps to become faulty, as in the case of the Wangsa Maju pump house.

Charles, who is also the Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation director and Coalition Against Water Privatisation (CAWP) coordinator, said SPAN should have conducted a proper audit of the water infrastructures all over the country, including in Selangor.

'Nothing to do with Langat 2'

“This has nothing to do with having the Langat 2 water treatment plant but the maintenance of the pumps or servicing them so they may run properly. Why was this not done? As a result, they are causing problems to the public and consumers,” he said.

“Maintenance of the pumps is the main issue here and why did Puncak Niaga not repair or replace the faulty pump since last year? Why has SPAN, which is tasked with monitoring and auditing, did not advise Puncak Niaga to do so? These are the questions which should be posed.”

Charles was commenting on the water woes faced by residents in several areas in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur following problem with the Wangsa Maju and Pudu Hulu Baru pump houses.

He said he had written to SPAN asking for a meeting on Friday and their move to resolve the issue.

However, he said he has yet to get a reply from Span over the proposed meet-up.

Yesterday, Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin (above) slammedSyabas, the Selangor government, the local council as well as the Fire and Rescue Services Department over the water disruption which occurred since Dec 29.

However, it was also reported yesterday that the Selangor menteri besar, who had visited the Wangsa Maju facility on Monday, had dismissed claims the pump was running at overcapacity.

He had said the state water supply monitoring committee found that throughout 2012, there were only 18 days where the pumps operated beyond its capacity of 200 litres a day.

Checks revealed that on average, the output of water there is 182.20 million litres a day.

“Hence, we cannot accept the reason given by Syabas as the company should ensure the five pumps are operational and properly maintained. The company has to ensure that they are properly maintained as this is based on the standard operating procedure,” Khalid had said.

He further said that on Jan 2, the committee visited the Wangsa Maju plant and found four of the five pumps non-operational while maintenance work was being carried out on the other.

Rising demand

Meanwhile, Syabas, in a press release, placed the blame on the rising demand for water from the Wangsa Maju pump house, which it claimed it had expected as the pump operations cannot be increased past its present capacity.

Besides this, the Wanga Maju facility was supposed to get more water supply from the Langat 2 water facility, however, the project has been shelved and so its completion date remains unknown.

“We have brought this issue to the government and suggested that an increase in pump system be developed so as not to overload the present system, to cater to the rising demand of the water commodity,” Syabas said in the statement.

Syabas claimed that it had followed-up on the proposal since March last year and the federal government had approved the additional pump system, which is to be developed by the Selangor government using loans from the federal government.

It said it does not know when the project is expected to be completed as it is in the design and consultation stage, appointed by the Selangor state government.

Syabas added that it had deployed 40 water trucks to help assist in transporting water to the affected areas.

Yesterday, it was also reported that Syabas chief executive officer Lee Miang Koi (above) said that the disruption was not caused by sabotage, but to lack of supply from water resources.