Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali today said that reports saying the state will raise water tariff hikes are untrue.

He said he will not hesitate to take legal action against media, especially TV3 , over the matter.

“I am disappointed with irresponsible media who reported as if the state government has agreed to raise water tariffs.

“This is a lie, slander and I will not hesitate in taking legal action against any media, especially TV3 , for perpetuating this lie,” he said while winding up the state legislative assembly debates in Shah Alam today.

Azmin yesterday told the state assembly that any tariff hike will take place after the Selangor government takes over the four water concessionaires in the state.

However, he said the revision will not burden the people.

He was responding to Sulaiman Razak (BN-Permatang) and Mat Nadzari Ahmad Dahlan (BN-Batang Kali) who asked if the government can guarantee tariffs will not go up with the water industry restructuring exercise.

Reading out the Hansard today, Azmin said he never said that tariffs will go up.

“Any restructuring programme or scheme will have cost implications to ensure that water management is more effective and that service is more responsive and holistic.

“The government will ensure any tariff hike will not burden the end users and the people of Selangor,” the Hansard read.

“When did I say that the government agreed to raise water tariffs? This is a lie,” he said today.

'Khalid should attend sitting, not tweet on issue'

Azmin also took potshots at former Selangor menteri besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim who has criticised Azmin on the water tariff issue.

He said Khalid, who is Port Klang assemblyperson, should stop tweeting and raise such matters in the legislative assembly.

“He (Khalid) just tweeted. He doesn’t need to tweet because he is an assemblyperson…attend assembly sittings…

“He should sit here because there is a seat for him. If he doesn’t want the seat, let us know,” he said.

Khalid in a statement today said Azmin went against the spirit of the water restructuring exercise by planning to raise tariffs.

He said the original plan was to only consider tariff hikes three to four years after restructuring the water industry, and that the hike will be capped to 15 percent every three years.