A DAP leader today urged both the Malaysian and Singapore governments to return the water dispute to the negotiation table as a continued impasse would be detrimental to consumers from both countries.

DAP national publicity secretary Ronnie Liu said the current war of words between the two sides is "counter-productive" since both countries stood to benefit from a water deal.

Liu said Malaysia should not gripe over the difference in the price that it pays for treated water (50 sen per thousand gallons) as compared to the sale price of raw water to Singapore (3 sen per thousand gallons) since it costs much more for Malaysia to treat its own water supply.

"(The price difference) should not be seen as unfair, as the cost of cleaning water per thousand gallons is around RM2.40. Any engineer working with a water treatment plant should be able to ascertain this fact," he said in a press statement.

In addition, Liu said Singapore also stood to lose should it stop buying raw water from Malaysia.

"Singapore would have to turn to Indonesia or other alternatives such as NEWater and desalination. Singapore would have to spend millions on laying new pipes to link up with Indonesian waterways. The costs of processing waste water and desalination are also very costly - nothing less than RM6 per thousand gallons."

Blame game

Despite this mutually beneficial situation, Liu said both governments have not clearly explained the issues at hand to their respective populace.

"(Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew) have not been able to resolve (outstanding disputes). They were even seen to play up the issues for political mileage."

The water spat has grown to alarming proportions over the past months with both governments publishing booklets and full-page advertisements , each blaming the others for the unresolved water price.

In a booklet published earlier this year, Singapore claimed that Malaysia kept changing its mind on the price of raw water that it sells to the republic.

Malaysia refuted these claims, saying that Singapore had refused to pay a fair price for the water that its buys from Johor.

Higher water costs

Meanwhile, Liu questioned if the government has played up the water dispute in order to justify setting up water treatment plants in Johor.

He said that a recent press report had revealed that a local business tycoon has been given a contract to build 14 water treatment plants in Johor.

"Would this explain why the water row was blown out of proportion - so as to justify the need for Johor to do its own water treatment?

In fact, the Johor government must have also anticipated this development. It gazetted (last month) that the price of water in the state would be increased by 30 percent effective from July 1 this year. Johoreans now have to pay for the higher cost of water treatment, regardless of whether Malaysia wins or loses in the water war," he said.

'Crazy' plan

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang criticised the latest announcement by the government that it would go ahead with a plan to elevate the Malaysian half of the Johor causeway.

"Malaysians are very concerned and upset by the whole idea of the building of a RM1 billion 'crooked half-bridge' to Singapore as well as by the latest handling of bilateral relations by both governments," he said.

Lim said the government has to let the public know if there are no other ways to resolve the bilateral problems with Singapore, without resorting to the "crazy plan".

Mahathir was quoted in the Star as saying that the government would not be seeking Singapore's involvement in the construction of the bridge since the response from the republic has not been encouraging.

The plan, which was first raised by the premier several years ago, is expected to facilitate international shipping headed for Johor's Port of Tanjung Pelepas.