The Selangor state government has handed a formal letter to the federal government on the state's planned takeover of Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd's (Syabas) management as per Clause 32 of the concession agreement today.
The delegation, headed by state excos Dr Xavier Jeyakumar, Ronnie Liu, Iskandar A Samad and Dr Halimah Ali delivered the letter to Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui's office in Putrajaya.
Chin's senior private secretary Nicholas Yii accepted the letter on his behalf.
Xavier said the state is ready to "step-in" to take over Syabas, adding that the Selangor government is ready to despatch a group of professionals to review the daily operations of Syabas and identify the real status of treated water in the state.
"Syabas has repeatedly said that there is a water crisis in Selangor. But this is not acceptable by the state, which is why we are saying Syabas has failed according to the concession agreement.
"Ramadan is coming soon and we have to give a positive picture to the people in Selangor and Putrajaya that there won't be water disruption during Ramadan," said Xavier to reporters after handing over the letter.
He added that it is also Selangor's responsibility to give confidence to the various industries and companies in the state.
"That is why we are taking this step to safeguard the interest of the people in Selangor, to make sure that water flows in their taps," he said.
When asked about the special Cabinet Committee, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to discuss the looming water crisis faced by Selangor, Xavier said that it was the prerogative of the cabinet to do so.
"He is the chairman for this water situation in Malaysia, he can call for a meeting to gauge (the situation).
"What we are saying is we don't want the federal government to take sides, the federal government should act as an independent authority," he said.
Xavier said that the federal government should not merely rely on the figures given by Syabas, adding that it is thus vital to have an independent audit group to ascertain the right figures.
"Never during this past three years in our discussion with the federal government, as far as Selangor is concerned, was there an issue of a water crisis in 2012.
"There was always an issue of Selangor having less water in 2015, so why is Syabas suddenly saying there is an increase in demand out of nowhere?
"This cannot happen. A company like Syabas, which is listed and running the water industry, suddenly cannot come up with figures saying there is a huge increase in demand overnight. This is unacceptable," he said.
Xavier added that the state hopes to get a reply from the federal government in the next two weeks.
Asked on the state's next move should the ministry reject the proposal, Xavier said: "When we come to that, we will announce the next step, I don't want to speculate as to what is going to happen."--TheSun
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