State to review water transfer pact, says Hassan

The Star : Tuesday May 27, 2008

SHAH ALAM: The Selangor Government will review the agreement on the inter-state water transfer from Pahang although the preliminary agreement for the project has been signed. State executive councillor in charge of infrastructure Datuk Dr Hassan Ali said the state government wanted to look into aspects such as the cost and technique used in the transfer of water.

“A re-look is important in order to ensure the people are not burdened with higher costs and that the water that is provided is clean,” he told the state assembly when winding up the debate yesterday.

He said the state government wanted to take all the steps necessary to ensure that scary scenarios like the nine-month ordeal suffered during the 1998 water rationing exercise did not recur. He was answering a question from Saari Sungib (PAS – Hulu Klang) on the quality of water provided to homes in the state that had been brought up by many consumers.

He admitted that companies involved in water treatment were facing various problems in maintaining water quality due to river pollution and changing weather patterns but the state government was working on overcoming such problems. Dr Hassan said that tap water in the state was safe for drinking and there was no need for homes to install filters.

Answering a question on the sale of sand from Gan Pei Nei (PKR – Rawang), Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said that all earnings from sand mining in Selangor would be put into the Warisan Fund for charity.

Former Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Khir Toyo (BN – Sungai Panjang) told reporters at the assembly lobby that there was a drop in state government revenue from sand mining activities as mining was only allowed on private land.

“The state government needs to study its proposal to get one of the state-owned companies to enter the mining business because it will mean that less government land will be available for other uses for the public,” he said.