Selangor turns tap off on Syabas' capital expenditure

Water concessionaire Syabas' capital expenditure (capex) has been frozen by the Selangor government to prevent the people from being burdened by its "wasteful expenditure", Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said.

"This is because every sen spent by Syabas will be reflected in the tariffs paid by the rakyat in their monthly bill.

"Therefore, the Selangor government must defend and prioritise the consumers' interests and value for money. They should not be burdened with increased tariffs from wasteful expenses," Khalid said in a statement issued yesterday.

He reiterated that Selangor's water issues could only be resolved if restructuring was done in accordance with the Water Services Industry Act 2006.

Khalid added that he was still waiting for the federal government's go-ahead to do so.

Projects awarded without open tender

Syabas' capex has been frozen since May 2008, except for emergency works, a move that Syabas and BN say has caused the state to suffer a high proportion of non-revenue water,overworked pumps and other problems.

Although Khalid did not cite any instance of "wasteful expenditure" in his statement, state-owned journalSelangor Times had previously quoted him as saying that it was due to Syabas' practice of awarding projects through direct negotiations.

"The state has procedures. The projects should be awarded based on open tender, not through negotiation," the weekly quoted him saying on Jan 18.