Selangor can ignore water deal after Putrajaya’s failure to help buy 4 firms, says Pakatan
(TMI) – Selangor need not fulfil its part in the water deal as Putrajaya has not invoked the law to acquire the water companies, says Pakatan Rakyat today.
DAP’s Tony Pua, PKR’s Rafizi Ramli and PAS’s Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said in a joint statement, given the federal government’s failure, the state government should just withold all remaining necessary approvals for the Langat 2 project to proceed.
“There is no legal necessity for the state to fulfil its obligations in the memorandum of understanding (MoU), when the federal government has failed to even demonstrate their commitment,” they said.
Last month, Putrajaya signed a MoU with the Selangor government whereby the latter would purchase four water concessionaires for RM9.65 billion.
The concessionaires are Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Bhd (Syabas), Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB), Konsortium Abbas Sdn Bhd (Abbas) and Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Holdings Bhd (Splash).
Under the MoU, Putrajaya was supposed to “facilitate” the restructuring of the Selangor water industry.
In return, Selangor would grant approvals for the construction of the mega-billion ringgit Langat 2 water treatment plant.
On March 11, at 5pm, the deadline outlined in the MoU for the water restructuring deal, only the state-owned Abbas had accepted the Selangor government’s offer.
Splash rejected the offer outright while Puncak Niaga and its subsidiary, Syabas, said they were willing to “consider” the state’s offer on several conditions.
Putrajaya then announced it would exercise its powers under the Water Services Industry Act (Wasia) 2006 to help the Selangor administration proceed with the deal.
However, Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili issued a statement last Friday announcing that Putrajaya would not invoke Wasia 2006.
“Right now, we are still facilitating without invoking Wasia 2006 if possible, but the water situation is getting bad,” Ongkili reportedly said.
However, Pua said Ongkili’s statements contradicted the joint statement which he had issued with Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim last Tuesday.
