Explaining why the Selangor government is dragging its feet in moderating the salary hike for legislators approved from 2014, Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said the rate is far from the ceiling level.

Compared with the income of the Sarawak state legislators, Khalid said today, Selangor was paying at least 30 percent lower.

NONE"The salary is not the highest in the country," he told reporters after chairing a state executive council meeting at the State Secretariat in Shah Alam.

Despite recent protests from opposition BN assemblypersons and Pakatan Rakyat leaders, including Anwar Ibrahim (right), Khalid said he would only agree to moderate the increase if other Pakatan assemblypersons too wanted this.

"I will moderate, but it will not be immediately done because we want to solve all other problems first. After all, it's already been approved by the Dewan," he said.

Khalid said he might open discussions on the salary issue again in early January, seeking the views of those affected.

However he declined say how much of the pay hike would be chopped off next year, if at all.

"That will not be for me to discuss because it is for those affected by the salary increase...they will be the appropriate ones to give their views," Khalid said.

NONEAt the top of the list was state assembly speaker Hannah Yeoh (right), who will see her salary almost triple to RM22,500 a month.

Khalid himself will receive a salary of RM29,250 a month, which is more than Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's pay of RM22,826 a month, not including allowances.

Selangor state assemblypersons meanwhile saw their salary hiked to RM11,250 per month from RM6,000. In comparison, Sarawak state legislators get RM15,000 a month, after it was hiked from RM4,500 in May.

Span ordered to pass projects

Meanwhile, Khalid today also announced that Selangor has ordered State Water Commission (Span) to pass 878 projects, that were previously delayed by the worry of a lack of water supply.

The projects span Selangor, the Federal Territories and Putrajaya.

"We had a meeting and agreed to work together with Span to solve this problem," Khalid said, adding that he assured Span that the government would raise water supply capacity in the state, even before the Langat 2 Water Treatment plant comes onstream in 2016.

The state would step up water catchment projects, including one in Bestari Jaya, he said.

"The Selangor government is confident that the clean water supply will be enough until 2016."

He said that the state also agreed to indemnify Span for a limited time against all claims or demands for compensation from developers should water supply falls short when the projects are being carried out.

This was under the condition that there was no foul play involved in Span's choice of water suppliers.

On the issue of Selangor's plan to consolidate the water sector, Khalid would only reiterate that they were in process of taking over the industry as ordered by the Ministry of Energy, Green technology and Water and will finalise the deals by the end of the year.

"It's in the process of drafting," Khalid said without elaborating further.

Last month, the Selangor government had said that it has made a final offer of RM9.65 billion to take over the four private water companies involved.

But it was also reported that some companies - Puncak Niaga (M) Sdn Bhd (PNSB) and another under 70 percent-controlled Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) - have shunned the offer.