SUBANG, Aug 3 — Selangor has finally completed its water restructuring exercise through the acquisition of Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Holdings (SPLASH) at a hefty price of RM2.55 billion today.

Selangor Mentri Besar Amirudin Shaari said the payment will be made by Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) in the next nine years.

This was the final acquisition needed to complete the exercise after Air Selangor took over Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (SYABAS), Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB) and Konsortium ABASS Sdn Bhd (ABASS) in 2015.

"This is a historical moment for Selangor because after 10 years, we finally found a solution to our water woes.

"The deal that we have struck is a by-product of one year’s worth of discussions,” he told a press conference at Dorsett Grand Subang here today.

He added Air Selangor will make a downpayment of RM1.9 billion and the remaining RM650 million will be paid in installments over the period of nine years.

"This takeover does not involve any state allocations as it has been structured specifically for a long term payment.

"The quantum and mechanism of the payment will be decided in the next month and a half after SPLASH goes through the official procedure of getting by its shareholders and board of directors,” he said.

He said the buyout is equivalent to a 28 per cent discount based on SPLASH’s nett book value on June 30, 2018 which stood at RM3.54 billion.

Amirudin said the completion of the exercise would make Air Selangor the sole water company to process, treat and distribute water supply to over 10 millions users in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya by the end of 2019.

He added the takeover will also resolve Syabas’ longstanding debts with Air Selangor for the purchase of treated water which has come to a huge price tag of RM4.7 billion as of June 30, 2018.

When asked if the takeover would see an increase in water tariff, Amirudin said the move to do so would be decided by the state government but stressed that no such plan is in the pipeline at the moment.

The cost of buying SPLASH was close to the RM2.7 billion figure speculated by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak last week, a claim which Amirudin and Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali had refuted.