Johor to build 4 water treatment plants to meet data centre demands

 

Two of the water treatment plants will be located in Kulai, one in Johor Bahru and another in Pontian. (Bernama pic)

ISKANDAR PUTERI: 

The Johor government, through Ranhill SAJ Sdn Bhd, is set to develop four water treatment plants (LRAs) at an estimated cost of RM1.41 billion to address the growing water demand from the state’s data centres.

State public works, transport, infrastructure and communications committee chairman Fazli Salleh said the new LRAs would be built in Kulai, Johor Bahru, and Pontian to ensure the continued stability of domestic water supplies.

“The projects include two LRAs in Kulai – the Semangar LRA, which will have a capacity of 50 million litres per day (MLD) at a cost of RM70 million, and the Semangar 3 LRA, which will have a 200 MLD capacity at a cost of RM990 million.

“The other two LRAs are the Layang 2 Phase 2 in Johor Bahru, with a 160 MLD capacity at a cost of RM200 million, and the Kayu Ara Pasong LRA in Pontian, which will have a 90 MLD capacity at a cost of RM150 million,” he said in response to a question from Haslinda Salleh (BN-Tenang) during a state assembly sitting.

On Oct 29, digital minister Gobind Singh Deo said Johor is currently home to over 50 data centres, which are either in the application, construction, or operational phases.

The surge is driven by the establishment of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ).

Additionally, Fazli said Johor had already replaced 76.5km of ageing water pipes across seven districts since January.

“The replacement project covers Pontian (24.1km), Johor Bahru (19.2km), Segamat (14.4km), Batu Pahat (6.5km), Muar (6.2km), Kluang (5.9km), and Kota Tinggi (0.2km).

“Since 2010, a total of 1,690.49km of old water pipes had been replaced. However, due to the vast network of pipelines, full replacement could not be achieved within a short timeframe,” he added. - FMT