Syabas Asks Government To Lift Freeze On Capex

Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) has asked the government to lift the freeze on capital expenditure (Capex) programme imposed in 2008 to assist the company in supplying clean and quality water to consumers in the Klang Valley.

Its chief executive officer, Datuk Ruslan Hassan said since the programme was frozen due to a stalemate in negotiations between the federal and Selangor governments on the restructuring of water supply services, the company had incurred huge costs.

"The Capex freeze should not be associated with the restructuring exercise. This has caused a very big impact such as rising cases of leaky pipes and poor water quality, including corroded water," he told reporters after attending the five-day International World Water Day exhibition organised by Syabas and Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd here Tuesday.

On the shortage of 700 million litres of water due to the deadlock in the Sungai Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant project, he said Syabas was embarking on 10 programmes to increase water resources, including the construction of dams and increasing water production at its plants.

On non-revenue water due to burst pipes, he said since taking over the Selangor water concession in January 2005, Syabas had reduced the rate from 45 per cent to 32 per cent.

"We have carried out eight programmes, including changing 800km of 6,000km of old pipes," he said, adding that Syabas had spent about RM2.6 billion for the water supply programme.

Puncak Niaga is currently providing clean water to 7.1 million users in the Klang Valley.

Meanwhile, IBM Malaysia Sdn Bhd chief technologist Lee Yu Kit, in the statement, said more effective ways of managing water and its quality, and the impacts of floods and droughts had to be implemented to ensure that life and economic prosperity could be sustained over the coming decades.

He said there were three main issues pertaining to sustainable water resources, namely quantity, quality and the amount of energy required to ensure safe water.

"Advanced technology are now available to analyse the quality of water and the effectiveness of treatment and distribution infrastructures," he said, adding that knowledge developed through the analysis could be used to help curtail pollution and stem inefficiencies.- BERNAMA