Putrajaya snubs Selangor’s water plans, insists Langat 2 best option

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — Putrajaya today refused again to back down from its plan to construct the multibillion ringgit Langat 2 treatment plant in Selangor, declaring in Parliament that it was the best option to prevent what it says will be an impending water shortage in the country’s richest state.

Deputy Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Noriah Kasnon told the Dewan Rakyat that the Selangor government’s proposed alternative to use the “membrane technology” at existing water plants may only boost production in the short term but may not meet the state’s long-term projection.

“Additionally, if there is need to upgrade the existing plant in order to use this membrane technology, I suspect the cost would be high,” she said when replying to Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) during Question Time.

The Sungai Besar MP later dismissed remarks from Selangor Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim (picture) who stood later to interject and challenge the federal government to accept the state’s proposal if he could prove that it is cheaper than the estimated RM3 billion Langat 2 treatment plant.

Without replying the Bandar Tun Razak MP, the deputy minister told the House that the federal government has been studying all options on how to alleviate a possible water crisis in Selangor since the 1990s.

“YB, you can say we are not smart, but if we say you are not smart, you can’t accept it.

“We started our research since the late 1990s and we have calculated all possibilities.

“The federal government has already made a decision that the most economic and viable option is by transferring water from Pahang to Selangor,” she said.

The controversial Langat 2 plant, which the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat (PR) have been determined to reject, will treat water brought in from Pahang and is expected to produce some 1.3 million litres of water daily.

But when rebutting Noriah, Khalid pointed out to the Dewan Rakyat that there was no need for the Langat 2 plant as the state’s current production of treated water is already at five million litres a day.

He explained that the state also records non-revenue water (NRW) wastage of 1.5 million daily, which far surpasses the 1.3 million litres to be produced by Langat 2.

“In my research, the cost of upgrading our 10 of 27 treatment plants only comes up to RM800 million... compared to the RM3 billion for Langat 2,” he said.

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