Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali has apologised to people of Selangor for the ongoing water disruption in several areas of Klang Valley, and asked for a chance to defend himself.

“I apologise to all the people of Selangor who were affected, but give me a chance to defend myself and explain the issue,” Sinar Harian reported him as saying at an event in Taman Keramat, Ulu Klang.

Last week, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) announced that several areas in the Klang Valley would experience a disruption of water supply, due to repair works at the Sungai Selangor Water Supply Scheme Phase 3 (SSP3) treatment plant in Bestari Jaya, Kuala Selangor.

However, a sudden surge vessel system burst at the SSP3 plant on Tuesday, delaying the scheduled restoration of water supply to the affected areas.

The incident caused 427 areas around the Klang Valley, including Shah Alam, Klang, Petaling, Gombak, Hulu Selangor and Kuala Langat to experience cuts, which are expected to end today.

Azmin also reiterated that the plant was operated by the Syarikat Pengeluaran Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash), and not the state government.

“All maintenance works must be carried out by Splash, and we are still in the process of taking over the company,” he said, adding the state government does not have the authority to override the company to perform maintenance checks.

Last Friday, Azmin maintained the state government should not be blamed for the cuts, noting that it had taken all possible proactive measures to ensure a continuous water supply.

According to Sinar Harian, the menteri besar also noted that the state government has asked the Water Services Commission (Span) to investigate the reduction in production in SSP3 as soon as the state government completes its own probe.

“We asked Span to go into SSP3 to look at why the production is reducing, before we found a few pumps that needed upgrading. We have instructed Splash to take immediate action,” he said.

Following the problem, Azmin said the Selangor government has allocated RM800 million to build an extra treatment plant to ensure an uninterrupted supply of treated water.

“I have just officiated the opening of the Semenyih 2 water treatment plant last month. The RM177 million project is paid for by the state government through its reserves,” he said.

Azmin ‘not serious’

Former Selangor menteri besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, meanwhile, attributed the water crisis on the state government’s inability to finalise the takeover of Splash.

Khalid laid the blame squarely on the shoulders of Azmin, who he claimed was not taking the takeover seriously. 

Azmin, he added, paid more attention to the sum of RM2.7 billion equity compensation needed for the takeover, instead of resolving the state’s water woes.

“This failure on their part has allowed Splash shareholders to reap even more profits, which has made them this brave.

“A menteri besar should fight for the people, but for some, the speed of their action may be somewhat limited as they are ‘full to the point of throwing up,’” he said in a Facebook posting.