Khalid agrees to reveal all on water agreement

Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim says today he will reveal the master agreement on the water deal signed between Selangor and Putrajaya. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Zhafri Azmi, September 15, 2014.

Selangor will disclose the details of the water take over agreement, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said today.

“We will reveal the contents of the water agreement so that the people can understand that it is the best decision made to benefit all parties,” the Selangor Menteri Besar tweeted.

It is learnt that Khalid will brief senior government officials and his remaining exco members on the master agreement at the state's economic action council meeting.

Sources in the Menteri Besar's office said a statment could be issued later today on when and where Khalid will reveal the master agreement.

Earlier today, Khalid told reporters that the text of the master agreement would be revealed after the companies involved in the restructuring of the water industry completed their respective extraordinary general meetings. 

“The text of the agreement will be revealed soon. The companies involved will hold EGMs to determine the sale of shares,” Khalid said after attending a gathering for religious teachers, imams and mosque officials in Shah Alam today.  

It is understood that the three companies involved in the restructuring exercise will have to hold EGMs to approve the sale of their shares to the Selangor government.

Under the restructuring deal, the three companies will be taken over by a Selangor government entity, Air Selangor Sdn Bhd, which will then run their water supply and treatment operations.

The three companies are: Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB), Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas), and Konsortium Abass (Abass).

Khalid has been pressured to reveal the agreement which he signed with Putrajaya on September 12 that set out to take back the supply and treatment of water in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya from four companies.

The RM7.45 billion deal will reverse decades of privatisation of the lucrative industry by the previous Selangor Barisan Nasional administration.

Although the restructuring exercise is supported by Selangor Pakatan Rakyat, the coalition and Khalid have had disagreements over how to carry it out.

Yesterday, several PR leaders and a corruption watchdog called on Khalid to make the entire agreement public to prove that it had the public’s best interests at heart.

They had also questioned why Khalid had gone ahead and signed such an important agreement knowing that he would be replaced as menteri besar.

- TMI