Friday, January 11, 2013

SelangorTimes:MP says SPAN also to blame

Member of Parliament Charles Santiago has requested to meet with the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) today (Friday) to try and solve the water disruption issues in Selangor.

Santiago pointed out that SPAN is responsible to regulate water concessionaires like Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) and Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd but is not doing so.

“Where were you (SPAN) and what were you doing?

“If you did your job and made sure Puncak Niaga fixed the broken water pump at Wangsa Maju based on the audit reports done a year ago, then this manufactured water crisis would not have happened,” he said during a press conference at his office on Tuesday.

He said this in response to the water cuts faced by some 100,000 residents in the area since last week due to broken water pumps at the dam.

Santiago explained that one pump broke a year ago and last week, the other four pumps broke down, resulting in water from the dams failing to reach the water treatment plant and homes.

“SPAN does yearly audits on Puncak Niaga and they should have known about this. Question is, did they push them to upgrade or get new pumps installed?” said Santiago.

He further added that this matter does not involve the state government and is the responsibility of SPAN as a regulatory body to ensure the 34 water treatment plants run by Puncak Niaga are well maintained.

“This is clearly the negligence of SPAN and Puncak Niaga and not the state,” he said.

Santiago also urged SPAN to present their most recent audit report on Puncak Niaga in order to rectify the water crisis and ensure it does not happen again.--SelangorTimes

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