Water woes in Kelantan affect SMI operators

The endless water supply woes in Kelantan have not only affected the people but also challenged the capacity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in their daily business transactions.

The operator of a soy sauce factory in Melor, Halmehera Mat Salleh, 41, said the lack of clean water supply had caused her to face difficulty ever since she started producing her products last year.

"Last year the water supply (supplied by Air Kelantan Sdn Bhd) was inconsistent and I have to buy clean water to process the products while for cleaning works, I used well water from the house of a neighbour near the factory," she told Bernama here.

She said this year the situation worsened, compelling her to prepare her raw materials, such as dried chilles and minced onions, at home before sending them to the factory.

Halmehera said as a new entrepreneur venturing into the business world, she had to face tough challenges due to the water supply problems and had to bear the cost of purchasing water to ensure quality and hygienic products.

She said such difficulties were acutely felt when unexpected big demands were received from customers or wholesalers.

Hence the signing of the Kelantan Water Supply Services Industry Restructuring between the federal and state governments on Sept 14 seemed to bring new hopes in addressing this pertinent issue, she said.

"We are very hopeful this clean water supply can be overcome urgently not only for entrepreneurs like us but also for the people of Kelantan," she said of the agreement which would beneift about 1.6 million consumers.

Meanwhile duck breeder Noor Hisyam Abd Aziz, 35, said clean water supply was one of the matters that needed to be taken into account to produce good quality farm animals, especially during the dry spell.

However Noor Hisyam, who reared 3,000 ducks on his farm at Kampung Lubuk Angong, Tanah Merah, said the source of water from the well was inadequate to irrigate the five ponds built on the farm.

Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) Jeli campus director Prof Datuk Dr Ibrahim Che Omar described sufficient as well as high quality water and electricity supplies as two vital elements to attract investors to an area.

"I believe through this agreement, Kelantan can attract more investors to invest in the state in future," said Ibrahim, who is also the Agriculture and Food Cluster Committee member of the National Professors Council.

The East Coast Economic Region Development Council has attracted investment worth RM12.4 billion from 2007 until January 2016 in Kelantan, generating more than 13,000 jobs in various sectors for the people in the state. - BERNAMA