Mazlinda Mahmood
SHAH ALAM: Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali must stop dragging his feat in resolving Selangor's water problems or step down before it is too late.
Former Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said Azmin lacked credibility and commitment in finalising the restructuring of the state's water industry and has jeopardised the water deal.
"I believe that many people in the Klang Valley and Selangor, especially, felt disappointed with the attitude if the state government and the Menteri Besar who clearly do not have the credibility nor commitment to immediately restructure the state's water services industry.
"Recently, we were surprised by the 'threat' by Puncak Niaga Holdings Berhad (PNHB), the largest shareholder in two of the state's water concessionaire, Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd and Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) to rescind the sales and purchase agreement with Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) after five applications by Air Selangor to extend the period of fulfilling the conditions in the agreement.
"PNHB has also threatened to take legal action to recover its outstanding debt which has reached RM4.97 billion as at March 31 this year.
"It is not impossible that PNHB's threat become a reality considering the immunity enjoyed by another water concessionaire, Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (SPLASH) which had stubbornly refused the offer from Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad (KDEB) and the protacted failure of the state government to finalise the master agreement signed on Sept 12, 2014 with the Federal government, Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad (PAAB) and Air Selangor," he said in a statement, here, today.
Abdul Khalid, who is also Port Klang assemblyman said he believed that the Fderal government would not hesitate to enforce the Water Services Industry Act 2006, especially Section 114 if this effort is deadlocked as water consumers in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya would be facing critical water shortage if the Langat 2 water treatment plant and its distribution system (LRAL2) failed to be completed by 2017.