IJOK, 5 FEB: The financial assistance of RM120 million from the Federal Government given to the Selangor Water Supply Company (Syabas – Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor) does not help solve water issues in Selangor, instead the people of Selangor want long term solutions to be taken to ensure water supply problems do not occur in future.
According to Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, this issue has to be solved as a whole with regard to future planning.
“Of course this is an unstructured plan, financial planning should not be made ‘ad hoc’.
“Giving loans little by little does not solve the water restructuring problem in Selangor,” said Abdul Khalid to TV Selangor last night.
Before Abdul Khalid entered the world of politics, he was also well known as a successful and respected corporate member, and has extensive experience in the business world.
Previously, Abdul Khalid said that the RM120 million in financial assistance given to Syabas will not resolve the water crisis in Selangor because prior to this, Syabas has been shown to fail in managing funds given to them.
Syabas has previously spent RM1.169 billion – more than allocated under their agreement – but the company still failed to reduce non-revenue water (NRW) to 19.98 percent.
NRW is water lost through leaking pipes or water theft. The current NRW rate under Syabas’ management is at 33 percent.
Earlier that night, Abdul Khalid continued the tradition of giving out mandarin oranges in conjunction with the Chinese New Year festival to those who visited the night market here at Desa Coalfield.
During the same visit, Abdul Khalid had also managed to carry out the Maghrib prayers with the locals at the Al-Hidayah Surau at Desa Coalfield.