Speak as minister on water issue, not PAS man, Chow tells Tuan Ibrahim

 

Chow Kon Yeow says Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has effectively confirmed that Penang is not ‘legally obliged’ to pay Kedah for water it takes from Sungai Muda. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow has told Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man to speak as the environment and water minister and not as a PAS leader over the water issue involving the northern state and Kedah.

Chow said it was Tuan Ibrahim’s job to ensure the entire country had sufficient raw water resources and to tackle water shortages in any state.

He also asked if Tuan Ibrahim’s statement that Penang was “morally obliged” to pay Kedah for water it takes from a river shared by both states effectively meant that Penang was not legally required to do so.

“I take his statement as confirmation of the legal rights of Penang to use the raw water resource from Sungai Muda.

“Imagine if the water supply from Sungai Muda is disrupted due to logging and mining activities. It will affect three states – Perlis, Kedah and Penang,” he told reporters at the sidelines of an event in Balik Pulau.

He reiterated that this was a national issue that needed to be handled by Putrajaya.

Penang taps water from Sungai Muda in Kepala Batas, which is then processed in Butterworth, and supplied to 80% of its 1.78 million population.

The state has refused to accede to demands to pay up after repeated demands from Kedah menteri besar Sanusi Md Nor.

Tuan Ibrahim had said Penang should make token payments to Kedah since Kedah had preserved thousands of hectares of forest reserve to ensure water catchments were not ruined.

He said this had deprived Kedah of much-needed revenue. - FMT