KUALA LUMPUR: Ranhill Holdings Bhd's 80 per cent unit SAJ Ranhill Sdn Bhd’s licence as the exclusive water services operator in Johor is renewed for three years from January 1 next year to December 31 2020.
The renewal was recommended by the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) and approved by the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Ranhill said.
"The approval was granted following a rigorous performance review, in compliance with Section 17 of the Water Service Industry Act 2006 and Section 7 of the Water Service Industry (Licensing) Regulation 2007," Ranhill president and chief executive Tan Sri Hamdan Mohamad said in a statement today.
Since 1999, SAJ has been the sole provider of water supply services in Johor. It was initially under a 30-year Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) concession.
In 2009, SAJ voluntarily surrendered its concession and migrated to the licensing regime. This is to comply with the government’s aspiration to promote policy objectives for water supply services through the establishment of a licensing and regulatory framework.
Ranhill said since the migration to a licensing regime, SAJ had demonstrated consistency and reliability in fulfilling the goals set by SPAN.
Hamdan said SAJ is in full compliance with reducing water loss or non-revenue water (NRW) in Johor with the lowest NRW per kilometre of pipe in Malaysia.
SAJ operates and maintains 1,986 million litres of water per day (mld).
It has reduced Johor's NRW to 24.7 per cent at the end of June 2017 from over 40 per cent, in 1999. The physical water loss was only 15.4 m3 per kilometre of pipe per day.
SAJ’s operation cost of RM498,312 per 1,000 m3 account up to November 2017 is well within the target set by SPAN, the company said.
“We expect to see rapid and sustained growth in Johor on the back of an annual increase in water consumption by 3.7 per cent from new housing developments, rapid industrialisation and increased commercial activities,” Hamdan said.
Ranhill has a total of 17 water and wastewater concessions on BOT, Takeover-Operate-Transfer (TOT) and Built-Transfer-Operate (BTO) basis with an aggregate treatment capacity of 290 mld and 102mld in China (40 per cent owned subsidiary) and Thailand (wholly-owned subsidiary) respectively.
In China, existing key wastewater treatment concessions have been identified for expansion, including the Xiaolan plant (from 80 mld to 150 mld), Yihuan plant (from 5 mld to 15 mld), and Wanzai plant (from 5 mld to 12.5 mld).
Meanwhile, Hamdan said the Chongren and Yong Xin wastewater treatment plants have been earmarked for further upgrades to meet strict regulator standards.
“The 10 mld Yong Feng wastewater treatment plant is scheduled for completion in mid-2018 and we hope to secure a new wastewater treatment concession in Fenxin for a 20 mld plant,” he added.
In Thailand, Ranhill secured a 7 mld water reclamation plant on a BOT scheme.
This, on top of upgrades to its existing 10 mld wastewater treatment plant within Amata City Industrial Park planned for mid-2018, will increase the group’s total treatment capacity to 114 mld.