ALOR STAR - THE state government has a strong case to charge Penang for raw water supplied from rivers in Kedah, Deputy Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said.
Mahdzir said Penang was supplied with raw water drawn from Sungai Muda and Sungai Kulim, which are the two main rivers in the state.
He said the source for the water was a legitimate reason for the state government to proceed with its plan to charge Penang for raw water.
"There is nothing wrong with the proposal, and it has been implemented in other states such as Johor, which charges Malacca for raw water sourced from Sungai Muar.
"There is no reason to stop Kedah from going ahead with its proposed raw water sale with Penang," he told the New Straits Times yesterday.
Mahdzir was asked to comment on a plan by the state government to impose a charge for raw water supplied to Penang.
For the record, the former Pas-led state government had also proposed to charge the DAP-led Penang state government for raw water sourced from Kedah.
However, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had shot down the proposal made by his former PKR counterpart, Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak.
Mahdzir said the Kedah state government should submit a proposal on its proposed raw water sale to Penang to his ministry.
"This will allow the ministry to monitor the progress on the matter between the two states," he said, adding that the ministry had never received any proposal over the matter from the previous state government.
The raw water sale proposal was first raised by Mahdzir when he was the menteri besar six years ago. Under the proposal, the state government wanted to charge Penang as well as Perlis for raw water sourced from rivers in Kedah.
In 2008, when Pas wrested Kedah from Barisan Nasional, Azizan revived the proposal for the two states to be charged for water supplied from Kedah.
He had said then that the proposal was imperative as the state needed funds to carry out more development projects for the people.
Azizan had also tabled the proposal and the expected revenue in the 2013 Kedah state budget during the state assembly meeting last year.
He had projected RM20 million in revenue from the sale of raw water to Penang.
Lim had refused to even let Kedah send its negotiation team to Penang.
Menteri Besar Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir had announced last week that the BN administration would pursue the raw water sale plan but with a revised proposal.
He said Kedah should be compensated for ensuring water supplied to Penang was clean and safe for domestic and industrial uses.
Reminds me of the same situation between johor and singapore. They started to recycle all the water using REVERSE OSMOSIS technology in singapore. The water is so pure that it is even suitable to be used immediately in semiconductor industries.
ReplyDeleteThat plan by johor to raise the unprocessed raw water fee backfired back on johore!