MP SPEAKS Despite facing a heavy public backlash, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has decided to go ahead with its maintenance works which will cause massive water disruptions in the Klang Valley staritng from today till Christmas Eve.

I have yesterday questioned why TNB must stick to the pre festive period from Dec19 to Christmas Eve as any maintenance works could surely be postponed.

TNB has subsequently come up with a new reason which claims that the maintenance work is unavoidable. TNB vice-president (distribution) Baharin Din said physical inspections, including thermal scanning last Thursday, found two hot spots which required immediate action to prevent major damage to the equipment.

So now the planned maintenance has developed into emergency repair/ maintenance. Why?

In today’s news report in The Star, TNB maintained that it had wanted to carry out its work on Sept 27, but there was a “collective decision” to push it towards the end of the year.

TNB chief corporate officer Roslan Ab Rahman said the decision to carry out the work from today was decided collectively with the National Water Services Commission (Span) during a meeting on Oct 31.

TNB’s new explanations are not going to be well accepted. In fact, its explanations will make consumers angrier as it is obvious that the maintenance work could have been carried out during non festive season.

If the repairs or maintenance works have become unavoidable now, it is exactly because of the wrong decision made on Oct 31. TNB needs to explain on three basic issues.

Firstly why did TNB agree to request to postpone the maintenance work till the festive season? If its customers were inconsiderate, why should TNB follow?

Secondly, TNB now claims that there are hot spots which require immediate repairs. What does this tell the consumers - that TNB could not and did not foresee such possible urgent repair requirement when it agreed to postpone the maintenance works from Sept 27 to Dec 19?

Additionally, is it not the responsibility of TNB to carry out regular maintenance works which can prevent such possible damage?

Thirdly, TNB has said the decision on the Dec 19 to Christmas Eve period was a collective decision.

This collective decision is a terrible and unacceptable reason for the bad timing of maintenance work. What the consumers want is a good and correct decision and not a bad collective reason.

I had yesterday urged Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Maximus Ongkili to step in and direct that the TNB maintenance work be postponed to a suitable date.

If the repairs and/or maintenance works have truly become unavoidable as claimed, then TNB must take the full blame for making an inconsiderate and wrong decision which has led to today’s water disruption becoming unavoidable.

TERESA KOK is DAP national vice-chairperson and MP for Seputeh.