Rotting pipes, crumbling roofs over treatment plants, overworked pumps that break down and worst of all, not enough treated water for domestic and industrial users.
The Selangor water situation is in a mess.
The state government is holding up permission for four concessionaires to get funds to fix these problems because it is bent on taking over the companies.
Nearly five years since it announced its intention to “restructure the industry”, Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim has now made his fourth bid after previous attempts were rejected by them.
The Selangor Government’s offer of RM9.65bil as announced by Khalid on Wednesday to the concessionaires actually raises more questions like “where is the funding coming from?” and “which banks are prepared to back this offer?”
Khalid was asked this question by reporters but he chose to keep it close to his chest.
Khalid, in his takeover statement, not surprisingly took a swipe at Tan Sri Rozali Ismail, the key figure among the concessionaires, when the Mentri Besar said he hoped that Rozali would not “prejudice” the state’s takeover offer.
Rozali is the majority shareholder of Puncak Niaga Holdings, which owns two of the four concession companies, Punca Niaga (M) Sdn Bhd and Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas).
Rozali described Khalid’s assertion that rejecting the state government’s offer as tantamount to rejecting the offer from the people of Selangor as highly irresponsible and political. — Bernama
No comments:
Post a Comment