Selangor residents may have to bear higher water tariffs in future after the master agreement on the state’s water industry restructuring has been finalised, including the taking-over of the water concessionaires.

Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali said increased water tariffs might be considered for the long term due to the expected take-over costs to be borne by Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor).

“Implementation of the finalised agreement will surely involve the cost of restructuring the industry to ensure the supply of quality water, but the state government will not burden the people.

“To reduce the 35 percent of non-revenue water (NRW) currently, will also incur a high cost,” he said in reply to a supplementary question from Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR-Kajang) at the state assembly sitting in Shah Alam today.

Earlier, Mohamed Azmin (PKR-Bukit Antarabangsa) said the master agreement was finalised with the federal government on July 10, with a 60-day period for the implementation of the main conditions in the agreement, including the process of taking over the concession companies.

He said that to date, only Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash) was still in the negotiation process, while that involving three other water concessionaires, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas), Konsortioum Abbas Sdn Berhad (Abbas) and Puncak Niaga Holdings Berhad (PNHB) had been completed.

The menteri besar admitted that Selangor was facing treated water supply problem due to the lack of treatment plants to meet the supply needs of residents and industries in the state.

“The problem in Selangor is not due to raw water supply but inadequate treatment plants, which requires the building of the Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant to be expedited,” he said.

To a question from Ng Suee Lim (DAP-Sekinchan) on the giving of free water, Mohamed Azmin said the state government would study the matter as some consumers were found to have abused the facility.

“There have been claims that some who receive the benefit of free water, have been using it to wash cars, water their gardens and so on. However, at the moment the state government does not intend to cancel the free water programme,” he added.

‘State looking at best mechanism’

Later at the lobby of the state assembly building, Mohamed Azmin told reporters that any suggestion to improve the programme of giving 20 cubic metres of free water should be tabled at the next state assembly sitting.

He said the state was looking for the best mechanism to ensure that the target group really benefited from the programme as the government was bearing the cost at RM120 million to RM150 million per year for the programme.

On the programme’s increasing cost, he said this was due to the change from bulk metres to individual metres for residents of strata properties.

He denied claims that the Selangor government was having financial difficulties due to the increased cost of the programme.

Asked on the possibility of increased water tariffs after the restructuring of the state’s water supply industry, Mohamed Azmin said if the people wanted the best facilities and services, it would involve higher costs.

“But to date, there has been no tariff increase and the government will look into effective measures to avoid the cost being passed on to consumers,” he said.

- Bernama