PARLIAMENT | BN can resolve Selangor's water woes in just one year if it is voted back as the state government, said Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Maximus Ongkili.

"If (the people of) Selangor are smart and vote back a BN state government, myself, the prime minister and the cabinet, can give the assurance that within a year we can solve all these problems," Maximus told reporters when met at the Parliament building lobby today.

He said the federal government would consider using the Water Services Industries Act (Act 655) to solve Selangor's water woes.

Earlier, during the minister's question time in the House, Ongkili said the government would invoke Act 655 in the name of national security only if the Selangor government failed to take over Splash - the last state water concessionaire not under its control.

However, he said he would prefer to avoid this.

Instead, he said the federal government was willing to help the Selangor government buy Splash if only Menteri Besar Azmin Ali would name a price.

"(But, Azmin) has no spine and does not dare to set a price (to take over Splash).

"You name the price, and tomorrow we can sit down and see how much the federal government can help (financially).

“Otherwise you are making the people suffer with all these water rationing and cuts," Maximus told the Dewan Rakyat.

He also said that Azmin asking the federal government instead to set a price was akin to asking a third party to set the “wang hantaran” (bridal gift) for a couple.

Independent valuations

Splash is the remaining water concessionaire that Selangor has yet to acquire as part of its water restructuring exercise. It is asking for RM2.8 billion to be bought over by the state government.

An aide to Azmin told Malaysiakini that the cabinet has in its possession independent valuations for Splash that both Putrajaya and the Selangor government had commissioned.

Repair work at a water treatment plant operated by Splash last week had caused an almost week-long disruption to water supply in the Klang Valley.

Azmin, who is the Gombak MP, was not in the House to respond to Ongkili.

Later, at a press conference in the Parliament media room, Klang MP Charles Santiago questioned why Putrajaya was only willing to foot 60 percent of the cost to buy out Splash.

"For the take over of Puncak Niaga, Syabas, and Abbas (in 2014), the federal government paid 100 percent. So why only (offer) 60 percent for Splash?

"The 40 percent (to be paid by the state government) would burden the people of Selangor," he said.

Charles also said that the state government could not prevent the water shortage last week as it did not have the authority to enter the Splash-owned water treatment facility and only the federal government could do so.

He also claimed that the people of Selangor believed the disruption to be an act of sabotage by the BN federal government and the incident would not affect support for Pakatan Harapan.