By Zareef Muzammil
SHAH ALAM, Sept 10 — The state of Selangor has reduced non-revenue water (NRW) rate to 28.1per cent between April 1, 2019, and August 2020, compared to 36 per cent recorded in 2008, says Selangor Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari.
The NRW rate in 2018 was 30.51 per cent.
He said the state’s success in reducing the amount of ‘lost’ treated water before reaching users is attributed to the takeover of five privately-owned concessionaires by Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) in 2019.
The companies include Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB), Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas), Konsortium Abass Sdn Bhd (Abass), Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash) and Konsortium Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (KASB).
“Previously, the water management in Selangor was operated by several entities, which had the role of treating, distributing and producing water bills. However, all these entities did not share a common outlook.
“We merged them together and placed them under the purview of Air Selangor as a whole and thus, completing the acquisition of the concessionaires,” Amirudin said during The Amin Idris Show streamed live on Facebook last night.
He said that the merger had also resulted in the construction of the Semenyih and Labohan Dagang Water Treatment Plants, which had entered their second phase of implementation.
Amirudin was commenting in response to questions on the effectiveness of the Selangor water supply industry restructuring plan, which had been planned since 2008, to recover the state’s water problems using funds channelled from the Federal government. The plan involved reparation works and capacity-building of the water treatment plants as well as the state’s piping system.
Through the funding (agreement), the state government had agreed to sell off existing water assets to the Federal government and repay the Federal administration by using the assets through rental payment.
Since April 1, 2019, Air Selangor has operated as the sole licensee for water treatment and distribution to consumers in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
