The Cabinet committee on Selangor’s water problems is pushing for construction of the Langat 2 treatment plant to start as soon as possible.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the committee would propose to the Government to issue tenders for the RM8.9bil project by next month.
“The building of the plant must start as soon as possible because it will take around three and a half years to complete it,” he told reporters yesterday after chairing the first meeting of the committee.
Muhyiddin acknowledged that the federal authorities would need to get the permission of the Selangor government to build the plant, but said the committee had directed the Attorney-General to look at legal avenues to press ahead with the project should the state refuse to budge.
He also said there was no need at present for water rationing to be imposed in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya as suggested by concessionaire Syabas.
Muhyiddin said the National Water Services Commission had only received complaints of disruptions in a few areas in Klang Valley, including Balakong, Kapar, Bukit OUG, Taman OUG, Hulu Langat, Pandan Indah and Pandan Perdana.
“In the current situation, there is not yet a need for rationing,” he said, adding that Syabas had been ordered to send sufficient water to areas experiencing disruptions.
Muhyiddin also rejected the proposal of the state government to take over the operations of Syabas, saying it had not complied with some provisions under the concession agreement.
He said the state had not fulfilled certain “substantive and procedural” issues, such as responsibilities on management of non-revenue water and compensation to Syabas over its refusal to allow water tariff hikes.
The committee at the same time instructed Syabas to come up with a contingency plan to deal with possible shortages in future due to increasing demand that has reduced treated water reserves to a critical level.
“We’ve got water treatment plants operating over capacity. Some of them are running 24 hours and that is not good as it could lead to breakdowns,” Muhyddin said.
“Until Langat 2 is built, (treated) water production will continue to be at a critical level … Until then, Syabas must come up with a contingency plan.”
