Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) used state funds meant for reducing water wastage to buy cars and make office repairs,  Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said today.

In 2011, Khalid told the state sitting today, Selangor allocated RM784 million to the water concessionaire to reduce the company’s non-revenue water (NRW) rate to 20 percent.

NONE However, he said, Syabas’ NRW remained at 33 percent today, despite the funding, and that the concessionaire had only spent 32 percent of the allocation on the job,

“The rest of the money, according to the national audit, was used to purchase cars and make office repairs, which have no connection with NRW reduction,” Khalid said.

He said this in reply to a question from Permatang assemblyperson Abdul Razak Sulaiman, who asked about the effects of freezing Syabas’ capital expenditure allocation.

Earlier, Khalid explained that the state hasd set aside a grant for the legal fees for the people of Selangor to take legal action against Syabas.

“Consumers are now given the chance (to take legal action against Syabas). The state will not interfere with the matter, but will only provide a grant for legal aid.

“This is one of the state’s reform efforts, to encourage the people to raise important issues on how they are not getting a fair deal on the work done (by companies such as Syabas),” he said.