No water rationing needed if Langat 2 plant had been built earlier, says PM Najib

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak says there would have been sufficient supply of water if plans for the Langat 2 treatment plant were not delayed. – The Malaysian Insider pic, May 5, 2014.Putrajaya has again said that the recent water rationing exercise in the Klang Valley would not have happened if the Langat 2 water treatment plant had been approved as planned and built.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today if approval for the plant's construction had been given in 2009, there would not have been water supply disruption.

He cited this as an example of populist politics by the opposition, saying Putrajaya had been blamed for the recent water rationing exercise which took a toll on millions of residents and businesses in the Klang Valley.

"There is a clear difference between raw and treated water, the Langat 2 water treatment plant would have provided adequate supply of clean water," Najib said at the monthly gathering of the Prime Minister's Office in Putrajaya.

"Many do not understand this, why Putrajaya wanted to build the Langat 2 water treatment plant. In the end, they blamed Putrajaya for the shortage in water supply," he said.

The Selangor government had announced last week that the water rationing exercise had ended after water levels at the dams improved following a spell of wet weather.

Selangor, which currently supplies water to Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya,  introduced water rationing over the past two months after water levels at the state’s dams reached dangerously low levels due to a prolonged drought.

MORE TO COME