Hannah Yeoh takes Splash to task for Selangor water woes

KUALA LUMPUR: Subang Jaya assemblyperson Hannah Yeoh today took Splash, the concessionaire and supplier of treated water in Selangor, to task for the current water woes.

Splash is the acronym of Syarikat Pengeluaran Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd.

She said Splash had failed to provide regular updates on the status of repair works resulting in more disruption to the daily routine of households and operations of businesses. It had also failed to be prepared for all contingencies, she said.

Households in the districts of Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Gombak, Hulu Selangor and Kuala Langat have not been having water supply since March 6.

Hannah said the public was informed last week that a scheduled water disruption would take place in the affected areas to facilitate critical equipment repair works at the Sungai Selangor Water Supply Scheme Phase 3 (SSP3) water treatment plant for a period of 10 hours on 6 March.

The SSP3 water treatment plant is managed by Splash, which was awarded a 30 year concession by the previous BN state government in January 2000 to build, operate and maintain the SSP3. Its core business is the production of treated water, which is sold in bulk to Syabas.

Yeoh said: “On March 6, we were informed of a sudden surge vessel system burst at the SSP3 water treatment plant, causing a massive delay to the restoration of water supply to the affected areas.”

This, she said, had resulted in immense suffering to more than 500,000 households in Selangor “for an insufferable 4 days and still counting”.

“The menteri besar of Selangor (Azmin Ali) had to then call for an urgent intervention by Syabas/Air Selangor to help Splash expedite repair works at the plant.”

Saying Splash should have been better equipped to handle such incidents, she added: “I cannot imagine the impact beyond this Sunday if the intervention for repair works had not been provided by the state government.”

She said the management of Splash must take responsibility for its failure to prepare for all contingencies, including the injury caused to the personnel at site.

“The buck stops with the top management of Splash and the people of Selangor expect stern action to be taken,” added Yeoh. -FMT