The state government's decision to form a special taskforce on the Kedah water crisis is "too little too late", Alor Setar MP Gooi Hsiao Loong said today.

Gooi said Kedah has been plagued with water shortages for many years, as Menteri Besar Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah would have been aware having served as the executive councillor in charge of housing and local government from 1999 to 2008.

"The fact that Ahmad Bashah has decided to set up a special task force to look into solving the water crisis is too little too late and shows that in truth, the state government is groping in the dark, unable to pin-point the real causes of the water shortage problem or how to solve it," he said in a statement.

Gooi said the special meeting on the crisis yesterday was a "poor excuse of a publicity stunt" as measures like providing water tanks and using tube wells are only interim measures.

"He didn’t even provide a definite date as to when the special taskforce is supposed to come out with their findings," the PKR MP said.

He urged the MB to immediately set a time frame for the task force to complete and announce its findings.

Elected representatives from both sides of the divide and experts must also be invited to sit in the taskforce and town hall meetings must be organised for the public to give feedback on the issue, Gooi said.

Ahmad Bashah yesterday brushed off calls to halt logging to conserve catchment areas in Kedah and ensure regular water supply.

Responding to Consumer Association Penang (CAP) and the Penang government, Ahmad Bashah said the government knows how to do its job.

Water catchment areas in Kedah also supply neighbouring Penang.

The ongoing water shortage in Kedah is affecting 41,000 households, exacerbated by the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations last week.