Don't be servants to Puncak Niaga and Syabas, Umno told

Former menteri besar Mohd Khir Toyo and several other Selangor Umno leaders have again been reminded that the federal government coffers do not belong to Umno.

Rebuking Khir, Agricultural Minister Noh Omar and Selangor Umno secretary Mohd Zin Mohamad, Selangor exco member Dr Xavier Jayakumar (left) called on them not to behave like ‘servants'. 

"We wish to advise them not to be servants to Puncak Niaga and (state water concessionaire) Syabas chairperson Rozali Ismail," Jayakumar said, noting that the Umno leaders had been "enthusiastically lobbying" for a water infrastructure project to be continued. 

His statement yesterday came in response to Khir's blog post on Tuesday, in which he criticised the state government for stalling the construction of a water treatment plant that is part of an RM8 billion project to pipe water from Pahang to Selangor to prevent a water shortage Selangor is predicted to face in 2014. 

"(Current Selangor Menteri Besar) Khalid Ibrahim's excuse of finding a cheaper method, et cetera, does not make sense because the government had already built a water channel from Sungai Pahang to Selangor. The only thing left is to build the Langat 2 Water Plant to solve Klang Valley's water woes. 

"In addition, the construction of the dam does not require any funding from the state," Khir wrote. 

Khir also claimed the delays were costing the federal government as construction costs were soaring and it had to repay its debt and interests to the Japan International Cooperation Agency. 

Jayakumar reiterated that Selangor had sufficient water supply to meet the demands in the state, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. 

"What is clear and obvious is that the Umno/BN leaders do not care whether there will be a water crisis by 2014... but it is imperative for them to ensure that Puncak Niaga and Syabas, which is owned by Rozali, get to continue with their ‘water business' in Selangor," he said. 

The federal government wants to take over the state's water assets as part of a nationwide water restructuring plan, but the move was rejected by Khalid's administration. 

Negotiations have been at an impasse for about two years.