The Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister has instructed the ministry’s secretary-general to meet with the Selangor state government to resolve the issue of the construction of the Langat 2 water treatment plant.
“My secretary-general has been asked to convene a meeting with the Selangor state secretary,” said Datuk Seri Peter Chin at the Hari Raya open house at the Prime Minister’s official residence here Sunday.
When asked when the meeting would take place, he said “as soon as possible.”
“It may be after Hari Raya. I appeal to the Selangor government to sit down with us to make a common decision.
“Let the project take off. On the issue of running the plant when it is completed, we can talk,” he said.
He said a consensus must be reached to ensure that the plant was completed by 2015.
“Water should not be politicised as it will not benefit anyone. At the end of the day, if we cannot reach an agreement due to politics, the rakyat will suffer because there is no water,” he said.
The federal and state governments have been deadlocked on the water supply issue in Selangor for several years now, with both sides disagreeing on the need for the Langat 2 plant.
Chin has repeatedly stated the federal government’s position that some of the state’s plants have been running over capacity to meet demand, making it necessary to start building the proposed Langat 2 water treatment plant as soon as possible to avert a potential crisis as early as 2014.
The state government, on the other hand, has alleged this as a spin by treated water distribution concessionaire Syabas, and repeated its stand that there was no water shortage.
