Water crisis: Shah Alam MP says everything is ok

KUALA LUMPUR: Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad claimed that “semuanya baik sahaja” (everything is okay) when asked about the water crisis in Selangor which has affected the daily routine of thousands of people in the Klang Valley.

As the Amanah MP was debating the motion of thanks for the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat today, backbencher Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh (BN-Setiu) interjected and questioned him about the crisis.

“In Melaka, there is Ayer Keroh, in Terengganu there is Air Sejuk, what about Shah Alam?

“There is no water … when is the water supply problem going to be settled? Other problems we make a hue and cry about, but don’t seem to be bothered about a critical problem like this,” he said.

Khalid countered that the problem was due to maintenance work at a treatment plant.

Zulkifly demanded to know when it would be over. Khalid replied that it would be over once the maintenance work was completed.

“Pity my friends in Shah Alam. They are lamenting about no water supply. They have to fill up five or six drums (to tide over the crisis),” Zulkifly said.

However, his remarks were like water off a duck’s back with Khalid retorting: “Is that so? I go back to Shah Alam, there is no problem. Everything is OK, no problems about taking a shower.”

Water supply, which was cut on Tuesday, was supposed to be fully restored by Friday.

But it will now take up to Sunday evening because of a failure of the surge vessel system at the SSP3 treatment plant in Bestari Jaya during maintenance work yesterday.

Five 1.1m-diameter pipes were damaged in the incident, two of them bursting severely, leaving five workers onsite injured. -FMT