THE Selangor state government will consider a plea by water concessionaires Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (Puncak Niaga) and Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) to take over their assets as long as it does not exceed the original offer of RM9.65 billion.
Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said Syabas and Puncak Niaga had made the request via a letter through the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry on Monday.
"The concessionaires are asking the state government to reconsider the amount paid to them once Section 114 of the Water Services Industries Act 2006 is implemented."
Under the Act, the concessionaires will only get RM7.6 billion, or RM2 billion less than the initial offer of RM9.65 billion.
"The state government can reconsider the amount of payment that needs to be made for the take over but our offer still stands at RM9.65 billion and we are not planning to increase even a sen more
"This is because any more increase in the payment will have a negative effect in the state water tariff and affect more than five million users in the state," he said at the state assembly yesterday.
Khalid, however, gave his commitment that the state government would cooperate with the Federal Government in reaching a fair deal for the take over "so we can move on to further restructure the water industry to benefit the people in the long term".
On a related note, Khalid said the Langat 2 water treatment plant would be constructed simultaneously with the Hybrid Off River Augmentation System (Horas) project.
"The state and Federal governments are still in talks but we expect to come to an agreement soon. It's just that there is no black-and-white agreements yet, but my word is my promise and we will make this happen."
Khalid said the Langat 2 and Horas projects would double the amount of untreated water from the current 5,000 million litres per day to 10,000. Horas is one of three main projects the state government will carry out while waiting for the Langat 2 plant to be completed.
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