'Selangor starving Syabas of funds to maintain pipes'

Selangor BN is blaming the state government for its high non-renewable water (NRW) rates by starving water concessionaire Syabas of funds needed to maintain pipes.

Selangor BN coordinator Mohd Zin Mohamed (left) said since 2005 when Syabas' concession agreement started, to 2008 when Pakatan Rakyat took over, the annual average non-renewable water has dropped from 1,591 million litres per day (42.78 percent) to 1,255 million litres per day (32.17 percent).

"The problem started since Pakatan Rakyat took over Selangor. The state government froze the concessionaire's capital expenditure (Capex). This directly caused the company to be unable to continue to replace old and damaged pipes, and contribute to high NRW rates," he said.

He claimed that this was done through state investment bodies Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad and Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor, which collectively hold a 30 percent stake in the company.

The old pipes had also led to the deterioration of water quality, said Mohd Zin at a press conference at Umno's Selangor headquarters today.

"Strangely, the state government which is part of the company's board of directors deliberately froze the Capex, but at the same time accuses the concessionaire of not working to reduce the NRW rates."

Shortage of treated water

The BN-led federal government had previously argued that Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, and Putrajaya would face a shortage of treated water by 2014, based on increasing demand of 3.5 percent annually, and wants the go-ahead for the Sungai Langat 2 water treatment plant, and the Pahang-Selangor raw water tunnel.

However, the projects were stalled by the state government, which argued that the projects were too expensive and is studyingalternatives such as channelling water from Kenyir Lake, Terengganu.

Mohd Zin also accused Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim (right) of muddling the water shortage issue by claiming that the state's dams are at full capacity to refute claims that the state's water reserve is only at 2.47 percent (106.8 million litres per day).

He argued that the dam water is raw water that needs to be treated before being distributed, and 14 out of 33 of the state's water treatment plants are already overloaded.

One such plant is the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant, which is designed to process 546 million litres per day, but has been pumping out 665.92 million litres per day between March 1 to March 19, a 21.96 percent overload.

As a result, he said Syabas could not commit to supply water to new developments in water-stressed areas since January this year, with 134 applications from developers being turned down up to April, which amounts to 141 million litres per day.

"All the facts that I have put forth were not met with a concrete response from the Menteri Besar, but instead he arrogantly denies all my allegations based on confusing the facts for political motives," Mohd Zin lamented.

On an unrelated issue, Mohd Zin also questioned the state government's claim that its dengue cases were not due to garbage and clogged drains.

"The thing is, if this problem had been resolved by the state government, why are BN Selangor Service Centres still receiving complaints from its people on the issue?" he said.

He also questioned that the government's move to allocate several garbage trucks to the Shah Alam City Council because most of the complaints were from outside Shah Alam, adding that trucks from former garbage collection concessionaires were not put to good use.

"The state government's move is wasteful and only fills the pockets of cronies," he said.