Water restructuring exercise may be further delayed - Selangor MB

The restructuring of the water services industry in Selangor which should be finalised soon, might be deferred yet again, said Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali.

He said the problem arose due to the state government having received a notice from the Attorney-General's Chambers today, stating that the state government should hand over its asset of land to the federal government for the water restructuring implementation.

"However, it had been agreed earlier that the concession companies' water assets (CCWA) listed under the deal, did not include the state's land," he said when met after a meeting between opposition MPs and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), here.

Azmin said he had even met Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on the issue, yet there was no solution to date.

He said the delay was also due to the attitude of the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry which often went back and forth on its stand in resolving the matter.

Previously, Azmin had claimed that the federal government tried to take over the entire 26,000 kilometres of water pipeline including the land, which purportedly contravened the master agreement.

Meanwhile, Energy, Green Technology and Water Deputy Minister, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid told reporters at the Parliament lobby that he needed more information before making any statement on the issue.