Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim today said the Selangor state's water assets were worth RM10.98 billion and not RM1 billion as recorded previously.

"The state governments records of assets involving treatment plants and water distribution plants were missing from the record books," he told reporters after chairing a weekly state exco meeting in Shah Alam today.

Abdul Khalid when commenting on the auditor-general's report that Selangor owed the federal government RM829.86 million, said 75 percent of the debts involved water assets in Selangor.

He said the state government had already taken the initiative to identify assets and their locations.

"If the state government takes over the management of water in the state and hand over the assets to the Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd (PAAB) the state will not only be able to settle the debts but will have RM9 billion extra," he said.

"As such the question of paying the debts does not arise since it was also agreed upon by the auditor-general."

Abdul Khalid said the debts were supposed to have been paid by Syarikat  Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) as per the privatization agreement between Syabas, Selangor government and the Federal government.

Syabas had taken over the management of water in Selangor from Perbadanan  Urus Air Selangor (PUAS) in 2003.

For the past two years, negotiations which began in earnest between the federal and Selangor governments and four concessionaires over the management of the state's water assets, has been embroiled in various controversies.

As it stands, the state's water assets are parked under four concessionaires - Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas), Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash), Puncak Niaga (M) Sdn Bhd and Konsortium Abbas Sdn Bhd (Abass).

- Bernama