The Johor government plans to no longer depend on Singapore for treated water supply to the state.

Menteri Besar Osman Sapian said Johor has been paying for treated water supply from Singapore all this while, and the plan to meet its own need for treated water would be finalised soon.

"But the matter is still at the planning stage and I cannot share the details at the moment until the plan is ready to be implemented,” he said in a statement issued through the Johor Menteri Besar’s Office today.

The statement referred to his speech made at the closing of the Johor State Government’s Retreat Session with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his cabinet ministers in Putrajaya, today.

Yesterday during the retreat, Mahathir said he wanted Johor to take proactive measures to solve the issue of buying treated water from Singapore.

Meanwhile, in the same statement, Osman said overall, the two-day retreat from yesterday had achieved its objective of enhancing cooperation between the state government and federal government.

He said many sound ideas and views came from both sides, where 12 federal ministers, two deputy ministers and one director-general from 15 ministries attended the session, sharing information on their respective ministries.

The retreat, participated by Johor Pakatan Harapan parliamentarians and assemblymen, discussed and and exchanged views on various topics such as sustainable economy, employment agenda, transportation, health education and so on with the objective of improving governance since Harapan took over the state government nine months ago.

- Bernama