Less than two months after the privatisation of Perbadanan Urus Air Selangor (Puas), it was reported that the NS Water Consortium was allowed by the Negeri Sembilan government to increase its tariffs for its privatised water supply distribution in the state ( The Star , Feb 17).

And less than a week later, it was B-Ventures Diversified (M) Sdn. Bhd which was reported to have been offered the lucrative privatisation of the Pahang Water Department by the Pahang state Government. ( StarBiz , 22 Feb.). This however, has been denied by the Pahang menteri besar.

The privatisation of Puas came as a total surprise to many because Dr Lim Keng Yaik, the minister of energy, water and communications had earlier announced a number of initiatives, the most important of which was to put on hold all water supply privatisation projects while his ministry took steps to revamp the whole water supply sector in the country.

He also announced that a National Water Services Commission (NWSC) would be set up to regulate privatised water supplies. He emphaised that the privatisation from now onwards has to comply with benchmarks set by his ministry.

For water treatment and distribution in the country, except Sabah and Sarawak, the jurisdiction would soon be transferred from the state governments to the federal government. A Bill to that effect was passed in Parliament in January this year, but it has yet to be gazetted.

So are Negeri Sembilan and Pahang trying to beat the red light?

The reason given by Lim for the waiver on privatisation of Puas was that the financial situation of Puas had become critical. But when the privatsation of Negeri Sembilan's water supply was announced, not a word had come forth from Lim. It was only on Feb 23 that Lim declared that he knew nothing about it .

One should not be surprised then that after Negeri Sembilan and Pahang, the next water supply privatisation move would involve Sabah with the rest of the states following suit in open defiance of Federal directives.

One wonders what is happening to the administration of the country. It does not appear that the state governments are working in tandem with the federal administration.

If the water supply privatisation of Negeri Sembilan and Pahang is allowed to go ahead, it could be due to any of the following reasons:

1. State governments are openly flouting the directives of the federal government, or

2. The federal government has quietly given its blessing to state governments to go ahead, or

3. The avaricious private sector has an unseen hand pulling strings.

For whatever reasons, the recent happenings in the country's water sector have clearly demonstrated that the federal ministry in charge of water supply is ineffective and may be redundant unless it reins rogue states, which openly flout Federal directives.

Otherwise, its minister may be seen as a toothless tiger humbly swallowing his own words.