The cabinet today has decided not to form a select committee on water management, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.

However, he said the MPs as well as the public will be given sufficient time to study the drafted bills before they are tabled in Parliament.

According to him, the drafted bills will be ready to be submitted to the cabinet for an approval in three weeks.

"The drafted bill will then be given to MPs, who would then have another three weeks to study the bills before the next Parliament session in June," he told the Dewan Rakyat in his winding-up speech.

The next parliamentary session is from June 20 to July 12, while the following one is slated for Sept 19 to Dec 8.

Time constraint

Nazri said that it is urgent to set up a regulatory body to monitor the country's water industry and due to the time constraints the cabinet rejected the proposal to have the select committee.

The government initially wanted to table the National Water Service Commission Bill and the National Water Services Industry Bill during the current session of Parliament which will end on April 28.

However, the plan was delayed due to opposition from parliamentarians concerned that the rush will only benefit privatised water companies. They urged the government to set up the select committee to gather feedback from the public before the bills were tabled.

In a briefing to MPs on the water bills last week, Energy, Water and Communications Minister Dr Lim Keng Yaik said he would re-submit the proposal to set up a select committee on water management to the cabinet after it was rejected earlier.

In an interview with malaysiakini later, BN Backbenchers' Club chairperson Shahrir Abdul Samad said ruling MPs will not insist on the setting up of the select committee if the cabinet rejects it.

Only with the passing of both bills in Parliament can the government set up the National Water Services Commission (Span) to monitor the privatised water industry.

The constitution had been earlier amended during a special parliamentary sitting on Jan 18 and 19 to enable the transfer of jurisdiction of water management to the federal government.