SHAH ALAM, May 21— Putrajaya will forcibly acquire Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash), the sole water utility firm that has continued to refuse Selangor’s buyout offer in the state’s water restructuring exercise, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said today.

“If Splash does not comply, they (Putrajaya) will use Wasia on Splash,” the Selangor mentri besar told a news conference here, referring to the enforcement of Section 114 of the Water Services Industry Act 2006 (Wasia).

Three other state utility firms — Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas), Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB) and Konsortium Abbas Sdn Bhd (ABBAS) — have so far agreed to the state government’s takeover plan.

Khalid also said Selangor’s water industry restructuring process will take between three and six months to complete, and that the state has drawn up an action plan for this to be achieved.

Both Putrajaya and Selangor had previously said that any forcible acquisition of the state’s water utility firms would be postponed as three out of four companies had agreed to Selangor’s original buyout offer as part of the state’s on-going water restructuring exercise.

The buyout of PNSB will cost the state government RM2.47 billion, RM3.11 billion for Syabas and RM900 million for ABBAS.

A memorandum of understanding signed between Selangor and Putrajaya in February stated that the state would take over the four water concessionaires operating in the state — Syabas, PNSB, ABBAS and Splash.

Only the state-owned ABBAS accepted the offer by the time it expired on March 21.

Splash rejected the offer outright, while PNSB and its subsidiary, Syabas, said they were willing to “consider” the state’s offer on several conditions.

The companies had wanted higher payouts, stipulating a 15 per cent return on equity instead of the 12 per cent offered. They also want to be compensated in full for not raising water rates.