KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — Putrajaya must resolve the Selangor government’s water restructuring exercise impasse before thinking of setting up a Federal Territories water department, the state mentri besar’s office said today.
Strategic communications director Yin Shao Loong from Datuk Seri Azmin Ali’s office said the idea for a water department was an indirect insinuation that the Selangor government was not doing its job properly.
Instead, he said the more important issue was to resolve the water restructuring exercise which has been postponed several times since 2016.
“The restructuring exercise has been dragged out because the Federal Government is either unwilling or unable to pay for the remaining assets to be acquired.
“Selangor has consistently catered for Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya’s water needs; if they (Federal Government) help Selangor they will help the Federal Territories,” he said in a statement.
Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili and FT Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor had both expressed the need for a FT water department.
Maximus said the department was necessary to address the flaws by the Selangor government in supplying water to the city.
If the federal government gives in to this pressure and eventually sets up a water department, Yin said the reason for the delay in financing the restructuring would become clear.
“It (would be) simply for political mileage, to victimise Selangor and its consumers,” he said, if the idea by Maximus and Tengku Adnan materialises.
Under the current restructuring exercise, Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash) is the sole remaining water concessionaire that has yet to be consolidated into the state water industry.
