The government is seeking public feedback on the Water Services Industry (WSI) Bill and the National Water Services Commission (NWSC) Bill by Nov 24.

Announcing this at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today, Energy, Water and Communications Minister Dr Lim Keng Yaik said the two bills will be uploaded on the ministry's website.

In addition to the full text of the bills which can be downloaded in PDF format, the website set up for this purpose also provides separate forums to address issues pertaining to the draft provisions.

Discussion topics cover rates, licensing conditions, transfer of business, consumer protection, duties and liabilities of licensees, enforcement, and offences and penalties.

In a statement released during the press conference, Lim said all feedback on the water bills can be submitted in either Bahasa Malaysia or English.

Feedback will also be sought from members of Parliament, state governments, water and sewerage service providers and the water industry, consumer associations and non-governmental organisations.

The WSI Bill seeks to regulate water supply and sewerage services, while an industry monitoring body will be established by the NWSC Bill.

The bills are expected to be passed by next April.

Options for operators

The move is aimed at addressing structural and administrative weaknesses in the water services sector including losses due to non-revenue water and big differences in tariff rates between the states.

Lim said the state governments currently owe the federal government RM7.6 billion due to the high cost of infrastructure development and under-investment.

During the transition period, he said operators under concession agreements (CAs) will have the option of continuing or migrating to the new system which will grant them licences instead of CAs.

"Nevertheless, all operators will be subject to the provisions of the new industry legislation once it comes into force," he added.

Bernama quoted Lim as saying that, with better monitoring, the government would do its best to establish the same rates in all the states even if the development costs are different in each.

He reportedly assured consumers that the government understands the situation and will try not to burden them by raising water tariffs unnecessarily. The minister reiterated that the move is a restructuring one and not a privatisation exercise.

In a statement, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang wanted a paper on the national water policy to be released with commissioned studies on the two bills, if any public consultation is to be meaningful.

He said the paper should be released, given that the bills will be tabled in Parliament for first reading next month.

"It will not be helpful at all, as well as against the prime minister's pledge of open, accountable, transparent and good governance if (Lim, photo ) withholds from the public all the relevant studies and reports which the government had commissioned," he said.

Kit Siang felt that a policy paper was "most necessary" given Lim's claim that the government had changed an earlier policy on privatising and federalising water as announced at a consumers forum in July last year.

He said many questions raised at the roundtable meeting six months ago remained unanswered.

In January, a constitutional amendment was passed to place water supply services - which had been controlled by state governments up to then - in a concurrent list which now gives the federal government the power to formulate policy and regulate management.