JOHOR BARU, Aug 9 — The state government today denied claims that Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd (LCT) suffered huge losses due to water supply disruption in Pasir Gudang last April.
State Public Works, Rural and Regional Development Committee chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad said the claims reported in an English-language newspaper early this month were totally untrue and had thus given a misleading picture of the issue.
“The state government is worried that the developments will have a negative impact on efforts to attract investors and to provide investor-friendly environment in Johor,” he said in a statement here.
The issue arose after SAJ Ranhill Sdn Bhd, the integrated water supply company in the state was forced to close Sungai Layang Water Treatment Plant (LRA) in Pasir Gudang without prior warning at 6am on April 10.
Hasni said that the closure was necessary as they had problems with the plant but repair works commenced immediately and water was restored by 12.45am on April 11.
“Water supply was also channelled to LCT by 6am on the same day, thus the unscheduled water disruption in the affected areas including LCT took only 36 hours and not between two days and 11 days in April 2017 as reported,” he said.
With this clarification, the state government hoped that LCT could understand the real situation and correct the statements made earlier to the media.
LCT in a report dated August 1 and 2 recently, was quoted as saying the company had to shut down operations between two and 11 days in April following water supply disruption due to closure of the treatment plant in Pasir Gudang near here.
As a result of the closure, LCT petrochemical production dropped by 75 kilotonnes. — Bernama
