By Syauqi Jamil
KOTA RAJA: Former Prime Minister Najib Razak and his cabinet were the ones who forced the Selangor state government to purchase Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor (Splash) at RM2.7 billion.
Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari said this is the reason why Najib had mentioned the exact same figure when he supposedly revealed the state government’s plan to take over Splash.
“Actually why did Najib mentioned RM2.7 billion? Because prior to GE14, it was his cabinet that decided to force the state government to purchase Splash at RM2.7 billion,” he said in his speech during the Sungai Kandis by-election last night.
Amirudin said despite this, the state government will announce later today, a payout with much lower price than the ones that have been set by the previous Barisan Nasional government
“We offer with a lower price because we’ve discussed transparently. Insya’Allah tomorrow will be a big step for us to solve water woes and water distribution to the people of Selangor,” he said.
Amirudin also said that it was Najib and his cabinet who were responsible for the delay of the state government’s solution to its water crisis.
He revealed that Najib, before GE14 have decided to prevent the Selangor state government from using the completed Langat 2 water treatment plant.
Amirudin said the decision had prevented the state government’s process to properly distribute water in Selangor and may also delay over 700 development projects that has been approved by the state governments.
“Najib said he don’t want to burden the people? Well before GE14, Najib’s cabinet had sabotaged the state government and the people of Selangor, only because of political grudges.”
“Thankfully we won, Xavier (Jayakumar) became the (Water, Land and Natural Resources) Minister and we nullified Najib’s decision. Now we have assurance that more than 1000 houses, by 2020 will get a proper water supply,” he said.
On Wednesday, Najib in his Sungai Kandis by-election campaign speech claimed that Selangor will purchase Splash in the next couple of days for RM2.7 billion.
He said a certain Tan Sri who is supposedly a ‘crony of Pakatan Harapan (PH) top leader, happens to own 30% of Splash’s stake and will benefit from the buyout.
