AG's report: Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant project unsatisfactory

 

Phase 1 of the Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant and Distribution System (LRAL2) project has not met its objective to supply 1.13 billion litres of treated water per day to areas around Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

According to the Auditor General’s Report 2019 Series 2 released today, the performance of the project was deemed unsatisfactory due to the delay in completing the system.

Management of the project was also deemed inefficient due to significant weaknesses at the project planning stage.

The report also pointed out that land acquisition and alienation to the Federal Land Commissioner had not been completed.

The expenditure for Phase 1 also overshot the budget. RM2.85 billion was spent so far, exceeding the RM2.10 billion allocation approved by the cabinet.

“The full operation of treated water pumps, generators, transformers, and the Scada (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system according to specifications also cannot be ensured...

“The complete components of the LRAL2 project have not been integrated,” the report said.

The report recommended that the Environment and Water Ministry should monitor the construction of the water distribution system.

The ministry, as well as Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad, were called to expedite the land acquisition process and land alienation applications to the Federal Land Commissioner, and take immediate action on all pending testing and commissioning works.

Pahang-Selangor raw water transfer

Due to this delay of the LRAL2 project, the Pahang-Selangor Raw Water Transfer Project (PPAMPS) failed to meet the target of distributing 1.89 billion litres of water per day.

According to the AG's report, the delay resulted in only 623 million litres of raw water being distributed from Pahang to Selangor per day.

“Coordination between the ministry, the Pahang and Selangor state governments, as well as relevant departments and agencies has to be increased,” the report said.

It also said that issues involving financial management, ownership of PPAMPS, quality and quantity of raw water, PPAMPS maintenance, and encroachment of dam areas needed thorough planning and action.

This is because these problems have not been resolve although the PPAMPS project has been completed.

The AG's report recommended the Environment and Water Ministry take important measures in the management of future projects.

The measures include ensuring the ownership and reservation of land are finalised before the completion of a project, to ensure the transfer of asset ownership of infrastructure projects to receiving agencies is not affected.

- Bernama