Keadilan Sarawak has asked the state government to make public details of the agreements involving two companies and three local councils on the award of waste management and disposal services.
Party state deputy chairman Cheng Hui Hong, speaking at a press conference at Keadilan's election operations centre in Kuching this afternoon, exhorted the need to make the deals transparent.
He also questioned why leaders in Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP), a member of the ruling state coalition, did not object to the privatisation of the services in the first place.
According to Cheng, who is a lawyer, the two agreements were executed on April 24 last year, and were part of the state government's privatisation of its waste management and disposal services.
The first was a concession agreement covering a 25-year period signed between the Council of Kuching City South, Padawan Muncipal Council and the Commission of Kuching City North on the one hand, and a state-owned company, Sarawak Waste Management (SWM) on the other.
Another was an operation agreement between SWM and Trienekens (Sarawak), a private limited company in which German firm Trienekens AG holds a majority stake.
"At the same time the state government has approved a soft loan of RM20 million to SWM," said Cheng.
No facilities
He added that a search with the Registrar of Companies revealed that the company's principal business is management services in the disposal of waste, and that its registered office is in Wisma Bapa Malaysia (the State Ministerial Complex in Petra Jaya, Kuching).
"However, SWM does not own any facility, equipment and garbage trucks," said the Keadilan leader.
According to him, SWM is by registration a private limited company with an authorised capital of RM10 million and a paid-up capital of RM10 million.
The ROC search also reveals that among its directors are a former state secretary, the state attorney-general, three senior civil servants and three Germans.
"You can see that with the combined capital of RM30 million SWM has - upon the execution of the agreement - 'passed on the business' to Trienekens by executing the operation agreement," Cheng said.
"I want to pose the question to the state authorities: For whose benefits is this privatisation project meant for? It does not make business sense to set up a company, incur losses and the public be given irregular services."
Cheng said that although SUPP leaders said they have negotiated with the management of Trienekens to increase from twice to thrice its weekly services 'at no extra cost', the company itself has yet to confirm this.
He said that this could merely be a ploy on the eve of the general elections.
Besides, he added, the two agreements already executed between the various parties are legal and valid documents, and the operation agreement covers 'extra services'.
Learning from Indah Water
Presently, Trienekens is being paid by SWM for its services, and households are still not being charged separately, other than the rates for scavenging and garbage collection charged by local councils under their rating assessments.
According to Cheng, he believes that Sarawak has learned from the experience of Indah Water Consortium, which was awarded the privatisation contract for waste management services in Peninsular Malaysia.
Since launching of the project, Indah Water has been handicapped by its inability to collect bills from households for its services.
In Sarawak, instead of the operating company itself billing households, SWM has handed the job to its mother company, Sarawak Incorporated, which has legal force to execute the task.
The great concern among Sarawak households is that they have yet been informed as to how much they will have to pay for the privatised services.
The state authorities argue that by taking over waste management and disposal from local councils, they can be run even more efficiently.
