Give free water only for the poor, Selangor urged

Water tariffs will go up gradually after Selangor takes over Splash concessionaire, says Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar.

Xavier Jayakumar says water supplies must be made sustainable.

PETALING JAYA: The Selangor state government should reconsider its “free water” policy and target it for the poor, says Xavier Jayakumar, minister for water, land and natural resources.

The 25 cubic metres a month now provided free to all should be restricted to those areas where the lower-income people live, said Jayakumar, a former Selangor executive councillor.

Such a change would help ensure that water supplies are sustainable, he said in a media interview.

Jayakumar said he expected water tariffs to be increased gradually after the Selangor state government had completed its restructuring of its water management.

The state-owned water company Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd is buying over water concessionaire Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash) from a finance ministry agency, Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad.

Jayakumar said a gradual increase in the 20-year-old water tariffs was the only way to pay for buying over Splash, he said in an interview with the Malay Mail.

The current water tariff is set at a minimum of RM6 for 35 cubic metres of water, but 20 cubic metres have been provided free since Pakatan Rakyat took power in Selangor in 2008.

The minister denied a Singapore news report that the federal government would pay RM1.9 billion to take over Splash.

The Straits Times had reported that a total buyout price had been set of between RM2.5 billion and RM2.7 billion, with the Selangor government expected to fork out RM600-RM800 million.

However, Jayakumar said negotiations were continuing. “I cannot say how much the offer to buy over Splash is going to be as it will be on the basis of a willing buyer, willing seller concept,” the Malay Mail reported him as saying.

An Aug 10 deadline had been set for the negotiations to be completed.

Jayakumar said more water treatment plants were needed, and the ministry had begun studying the second phase of the Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant.

Delays to the plant had caused 756 development projects to be deferred, he said. -FMT