Wednesday July 4, 2012

Selangor disagrees with Federal Govt’s water solution

PETALING JAYA: The Selangor government acknowledges the need to look into the water issue but disagrees with the solution proposed by the Federal Government.

Instead of going ahead with the Langat 2 water treatment plant and the Pahang-Selangor raw water transfer project, Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim repeatedly mentioned in the past that the state would rather meet the need for treated water by restructuring the water services industry; reducing non-revenue water, tapping into its groundwater resource and stepping up water conservation efforts.

He added that the state government was not keen on constructing the Langat 2 plant because of the high cost involved, which analysts estimated at about RM4bil.

Khalid felt that consumers would eventually be made to bear the cost of the plant by having to pay increased water tariffs.

Separately, the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry had early this year set up a task force to look into the issue.

The task force is headed by the minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin and ministry secretary-general Datuk Loo Took Gee.

Current efforts to restructure the water services in Selangor and meet the state’s increasing demand for treated water have been riddled with issues involving disagreements between the Federal and state goverments.

Concerned groups had called on both governments to try to work out the issues to ensure the taps keep flowing.

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