Questioning the proposed water tariff hike in Johor, a DAP parliamentarian has urged the state government to instead review the price of raw water it sells to Singapore.

Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching said the proposed water tariff increase was “totally unacceptable” as Johoreans currently pay the highest water rates in the country.

“This is despite the fact that Johor can make a profit from selling raw water to Malacca and Singapore.

“The charges for raw water supply to Singapore have not seen an increase for the past 53 years,” Teo pointed out.

Johor public works, rural and regional development committee chairperson Hasni Mohammad announced on Tuesday that the state would soon decide on the new water tariff rates.

Water tariffs in Johor are expected to go up by between 10 percent and 12 percent in the next few months due to the high cost of water treatment which doubled with growing pollution and with the hike in electricity tariffs earlier this year.

Teo ( left ) also said while it was undeniable that electricity played a major factor in the operational cost of water treatment plants, the electricity tariff hike affected the whole country.

“So why is there a need for Johor to revise its water tariffs while many other states do no need to do so?” she asked.

The state, she said, could instead make a profit by revising the raw water selling price to Singapore.

Currently, the Johor government sells raw water to Malacca and Singapore at RM0.30/1000 gallons and RM0.03/1000 gallons respectively.

Meanwhile, Mengkibol assemblyperson Tan Hong Pin urged the Johor government to postpone the proposed hike in water tariffs until Syarikat Air Johor (SAJ) could convince the rakyat that the quality of water supply services would also be enhanced.

“SAJ should instead resolve its weaknesses in terms of management before any water tariff hike is considered,” Tan said.

“One way for SAJ to convince the rakyat is with the consistent supply of clean water,” he said, claiming that residents in Kluang, Batu Pahat and Muar have for long been been supplied with dirty water.