Another S’gor-Syabas tussle over supply amidst water rationing

(fz.com) – Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim has rapped water concessionaire Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) for failing to come up with a plan to enable preparations for controlled distribution of water supply.

Consumers in Selangor will face disruption of water supply from today as the state government will begin reducing the amount of raw water released from a main water catchment to four water treatment plants.

In a statement yesterday, Abdul Khalid said the Selangor government will begin reducing the amount of water released from the Sungai Selangor dam to the Sungai Rasa, Selangor 1,2 and 3 water treatment plants to conserve raw water reserves in the state.

However, Abdul Khalid hit out at Syabas for pushing the buck to the state government to implement measures to control the distribution of water.

According to state government officers, Syabas is contractually obligated to come with an Emergency Response Plan when there is a critical condition in water levels.

“As the water concessionaire, Syabas was supposed to conduct the scheduling of water distribution last week by drawing an Emergency Response Plan so that consumers can make early preparations,” said Khalid.

“However, Syabas has failed to come up with a plan until now and the state government has been informed that they refuse to do so and want to leave that responsibility to the state government,” he added.

Consequently, he said the state government has directed the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) and the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) to allow the state to step in to manage Syabas.

This is not the first time the Selangor government has proposed a step in to take over the management of the water concessionaire.

Abdul Khalid had announced the state government’s decision to take over the management of Syabas in July 16 within 14 days after it was claimed that it was incapable of providing satisfactory services to consumers.

He had said Syabas had failed to reduce the rate of non-revenue water (NRW) to 20% as per the concession agreement signed with the state government.

A preliminary audit report had also revealed that the company had not used its capital expenditure to upgrade utilities like pipes and water treatment plants wisely.

Abdul Khalid had also said Syabas owed a total RM2.8 billion to water treatment operators as at April this year.

The state government had made the announcement as Syabas had to request SPAN to conduct immediate water rationing in Kuala Lumpur, Hulu Langat and Klang due to low water levels in several reserves.

However, Syabas technical services executive director V. Subramaniam had countered the allegations as “not true and baseless to say the least”.

He had said the water crisis affecting various areas in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya was due to the state’s refusal to approve the implementation of crucial projects that “would have assisted, if approved earlier, in increasing the production of treated water in the state”.

Reduction of raw water to be conducted in stages.

On the reduction of raw water to the four water treatment plants, Abdul Khalid said it will be implemented in four stages.

The first stage involves a reduction of 7% or 200 million litres per day (MLD), the second at 10% (300 MLD), third at 15% (400 MLD), and fourth at 20% (500 MLD).

“This has to be done to ensure the water stored in the dam can last up to the end of March,” he added.

He said the Selangor Water Management Board (Luas) reported that raw water supply in the state is in critical condition, as the water levels in many dams have decreased rapidly due to the hot weather.

He also said the control of raw water distribution is expected to go on until the end of March if the hot weather persists as predicted Malaysian Meteorological Department.

Abdul Khalid said local authorities (PBT) have also been ordered to be pro-active in helping the affected population and to monitor respective industries to ensure the water rationing has a minimal impact on the running of factories.

Meanwhile, he said cloud seeding efforts will continue to be conducted at the opportune time to produce rain.