Selangor water takeover ‘red flagged’

Rafizi Ramli today cautioned the Selangor state government to be wary of Putrajaya’s decision to invoke Section 114 of the Water Services Industry Act 2006 (Wasia).

The Act provides the Federal Government powers to compulsorily acquire the water assets at a reasonable price in view of national interest.

“Section 114 of Wasia allows the Federal Government through the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) to take over all assets, management and concession holder on the basis that such takeover feeds national interest,” Rafizi told a press conference here.

“The final result of invoking this Act is that all the water assets in the entire of Klang Valley will be under the Federal Government alone,” he added.

Following Putrajaya’s decision, water concessionaires in Selangor, including Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd and Gamuda Bhd, may be forced to accept Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd’s (KDEB) offer to acquire their water assets in the state.

Raw water license to be revoked

The Selangor government will terminate the raw water licenses given to Puncak Niaga Holdings Berhad, following the announcement of a joint takeover bid of four Selangor water concessionaires with the federal government

The state government has directed the Selangor Water Management Authority to issue a raw water license to the state-owned Kumpulan Dahrul Ehsan, in replacement of Puncak Niaga, said Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim in a statement yesterday.

A government source told FMT that following the termination, Puncak Niaga can no longer extract raw water from the state.

However, it can still supply treated water because that license was issued by the federal-owned National Water Services Commission.