The corporatisation of Pahang Water Supply Department will proceed as scheduled on Wednesday despite Cuepacs’ call for the move be postponed to allow its staff to have better understanding on their remuneration scheme and the terms and conditions set.
Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob said there was no need for the postponement and assured the staff that it was a good move.
“Why the need to postpone? No one will be terminated.
“I will personally meet the staff to explain the corporatisation exercise and their remuneration scheme. They need not worry about it,” he told reporters after distributing school uniforms and bags to school children at Pahang Foundation complex here on Monday.
Adnan said this when responding to Cuepacs’ president Datuk Omar Osman’s suggestion after the department’s staff claimed that they were still unclear about the exercise.
On Monday, Omar was qouted as saying in a Malay daily that the staff had yet to obtain information on the terms and conditions about the corporatisation and questioned whether the move would do be for the better.
On this, the mentri besar clarified that the corporatisation would seePengurusan Air Pahang Berhad (Paip) taking over the water treatment, supply, distribution and revenue collection as well as paving the way for efficient services be rendered to the public.
He also said the state government would no longer bear the burden of servicing federal loans accumulated over the years involving the water supply services.
“It is for the better for all parties. The state government will not do anything that the public dislike.
“It is crazy to do that. They are the one who vote us in as the government,” Adnan said.
The corporatisation agreement was signed last month to pave way for Paip to put in place an efficient water supply operation, with focus on enhancing revenue collection and reducing non-revenue water losses.
Paip is wholly owned by the state government, which remained responsible in monitoring the water resources, catchment areas and ponds.
Under the exercise, a sum of RM1.7bil in federal loans accumulated since the 1980s would be taken over by Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad (PAAB) and serviced by PAIP.
