SHAH ALAM, 6 Mar: Five million people of Selangor are set to receive water industry shares should the State Government successfully acquire the water industry in the state.
Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said that if the four concessionaires involved agree to the offer of RM9.65 billion, the State Government can issue one stock unit to every citizen of Selangor.
The water share units is a translation of the Selangor Government’s policy and Abdul Khalid’s intention prior to this to give the feeling that the people of Selangor have an interest in the industry.
“The population of Selangor is over five million. We offer RM9.65 billion. If the RM2,000 shares multiply with the five million people, the total is RM10 billion.
“The excess, we will collect up to RM10 billion to accommodate the payment. It is not paid for by the people but by the State Government.
“The State Government will manage it so that the funds will float and eventually be owned by the people of Selangor,” he said in a press conference after chairing the Exco Meeting here at the State Secretariat Building.
Previously, the State Government offered RM6.95 billion to the four concession companies to acquire the management of the industry.
The four companies are; the Selangor Water Supply Company (Syabas), Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd, Konsortium Abbas Sdn Bhd (Abbas) and Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Holding (Splash).
The takeover process is part of Selangor’s efforts to restructure the water industry.
Commenting further of the water offer to the concessionaires, Abdul Khalid informed that the 14 days of the offer expired yesterday and at this moment, there is no rejection from any of the concessionaires.
“I would like to state that talks with the concessionaires regarding the offer from the people of Selangor is going smoothly with all parties.
“During the talks, there have been efforts to find an agreement before this matter is submitted to the Ministry to be implemented. Discussions are still going on.
“If before Syabas and Puncak Niaga did not agree to discuss, they now want to discuss…from time to time Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad (KDEB) will announce the outcome of discussions.
“I will announce developments of this offer in two weeks,” he said.