IPOH: Perak is set to sign an agreement with Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd (PAAB) within the next few months, said Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.
“We are now ready to go and we expect the deal to be concluded in the first quarter of this year,” he said after attending the Thaipusam celebration at the Sri Subramaniar Temple in Gunung Cheroh here yesterday.
The agreement is over the proposed acquisition of the state’s water assets by water asset management company PAAB.
It was earlier reported that the cost of acquiring the water assets in Perak is estimated to be over RM650mil.
Unlike most states that had agreed to a complete migration of their water assets to PAAB, Perak had requested to retain RM200mil worth of water assets within the state.
Dr Zambry said Perak was now ready to sign the deal since certain issues had been sorted out after negotiations between the state government and the company.
“The agreement would be for a period of 45 years with re-evaluation and new terms to be included once the agreement has lapsed,” he said.
In December, the Mentri Besar had reportedly said that with the settlement of the water asset migration between the Perak Water Board (LAP) and PAAB, the state’s RM970.59mil water supply debt to the Federal Government would be reduced to RM78.66mil.
He also stated that LAP would literally start on a clean slate following the asset migration.
He had also assured consumers that the water tariffs in Perak would not be increased following the conclusion of the migration exercise.--TheStar
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