PKR Youth wants sultan to intervene in Syabas woes
Selangor PKR Youth wants the sultan to intervene to help the Selangor take over operations of concessionaire Syabas to tackle the state’s water woes.
Selangor PKR Youth wants the sultan to intervene to help the Selangor take over operations of concessionaire Syabas to tackle the state’s water woes.
“Selangor PKR Youth and Selangor Pakatan Rakyat leaders have been trying to handle the (water) issue, but Syabas does not want to budge and take any action that helps the state.
“We will approach and hand a memorandum to appeal to the Selangor sultan to intervene and use the power vested in him to help the state in its efforts to take over Syabas,” said its chief Azmizam Zamanhuri.
Speaking to reporters at the party’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya today, he said they plan to hold a rally on January 25 after Friday prayers at Masjid Sultan Sulaiman, Klang.
From there they will march to the Shah Alam palace to hand the memorandum.
Since December, certain parts of the state has been facing water shortage, said to be due to the failure of pump houses in Wangsa Maju and Pudu Hulu.
However, BN top leaders such as Prime Minister Najib Razak , who is also Selangor BN chief, and Deputy Muhyiddin Yassin have been pointing the finger at the Pakatan state government’s refusal to give approval for the building of the disputed Langat 2 water treatment plant, targeted for 2015.
State exco Xavier Jayakumar however pointed out that the problem arises from Syabas’ incompetence , as all the pumps including standby pumps at the Wangsa Maju pumphouse were out of operation.
Selangor held to ransom?
Azmizam said, “Recent developments show that (the water) issue has been deliberately politicised to the extreme by Umno-BN leaders to deflect the facts and reality.
“Umno-BN through the mainstream media they control are continuously manipulating this issue to appear as if it stems from the state’s refusal to approve Langat 2, when in reality it is the opposite.”
He added that it was the federal government that had been blocking the state’s attempts at taking over Syabas in order to manage the state’s water supply better.
Putrajaya had also intervened to keep Syabas' concessions agreement from public scrutiny, by appealing a court verdict in June 2010 for the document to be publicly disclosed in the interests of the public.
“The state government has failed (to take over Syabas) due to the refusal of the federal government to cooperate, and to even openly support Syabas,” said Azmizam.
As a result, he said, the Selangor people are being forced to swallow Syabas’ unsatisfactory services.
He added that if Syabas did not have the expertise and competency to manage the state’s water, it should hand operations back to the state government.
“Syabas’ refusal to do so is not only a violation of the concessions agreement but also makes life difficult for the people in the state,” he said.
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