Water shortages faced by Kajang and Balakong residents are due to a Selangor government subsidiary’s decision to slash supply to distributor Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) by about 20 million gallons a day, said Selangor BN.

NONE According to Selangor BN coordinator Mohd Zin Mohamed ( centre in photo ), the decision was made by Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor (KPS), a majority stakeholder of water treatment company Konsortium Abass Sdn Bhd (Abass) on Aug 10, 2011.

Citing copies of letters from KPS to Syabas distributed to the press, Mohd Zin said that this showed that the Selangor government, via KPS, is not prioritising the rakyat’s needs.

azlan “The state government always says it has a people-friendly agenda but the instruction to reduce the treated water capacity (sold to Syabas) shows it is actually prioritising itself before the rakyat,” he said.

He added that KPS’s reasoning that Syabas is not paying a sufficient amount for the water supplied does not justify reducing supply from about 140 million gallons a day to 120 million gallons.

“Whatever the excuses given, such an instruction does not put the people’s needs first,” he said.

Mohd Zin, however, fell short of saying that the shortage in Kajang and Balakong was manufactured.

"(The Selangor government) says the shortage is due to Syabas' inefficiency, but this is a lie.

"The fact is, it is due to the reduction of supply... but when demand rises and people make noise over shortage they say it's because (BN wants) the Langat 2 (treatment plant)," he said.

He said instead of resolving this issue for Kajang and Balakong residents, the state is sending water trucks while its executive councillors are demonstrating in front of Syabas.

"Is this in an executive councillor's job scope?" he asked.

'Syabas paid only 1percent of outstanding invoice'

According to the KPS' letters to Syabas and National Water Services Commission (Span), Syabas had paid only 22 percent to 35 percent of invoiced amounts for water supplied from January to November, 2011.

"There does not appear to be any coherent methodology to the appointment of the percentage payment for each of the outstanding invoices," KPS managing director Suhaimi Kamaralzaman had told Span.

He added that payments were "frequently at proportions as low as one percent of the outstanding invoiced amount" and are often paid at the very end of the standard three-month credit period.

Suhaimi, in a letter to Syabas, added that at these rates of payment, Abass cannot afford to supply about 140 million gallons a day, which is beyond its plant's capacity of 120 million gallons a day.

He said this results in higher wear and tear to the plant, which in turn requires higher capital expenditure - an amount which cannot be met with Syabas' low payments.

The concession agreement between Selangor and Abass states that the designated quantity for supply is 120 million gallons per day.

Another agreement between the state, Abass and Syabas also states that Abass has the "absolute discretion" to determine the proportion which Syabas needs to pay towards settling outstanding amounts.

Meanwhile, responding to Mohd Zin, Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said that the move to reduce water supply to Syabas was sanctioned by Span.

"That is fundamental. That is what we need to clarify, and what KPS, as a public-listed company, has a responsibility to clarify," he said.

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