Pakatan leaders have called upon Selangor state government, led by its Executive Council and the state assembly to withold all remaining necessary approvals for the Langat 2 project to proceed folowing the statement made by Dr Maximus Ongkili who expressed that the federal government would not invoke the Water Services Industry Act (WSIA) to acquire the Selangor water companies if possible.
“The is no legal necessity for the state to fulfil its obligations in the MOU, when the Federal Government has failed to even demonstrate their commitment.” said Tony Pua, Rafizi Ramli and Dzulkefly Ahmad in a joint statement made earlier today.
Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili issued a statement last Friday announcing that Putrajaya would not invoke Wasia 2006 to acquire the privatised water concession in Selangor.
The Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili said “Right now, we are still facilitating without invoking (WSIA) if possible … but the (water) situation is getting bad.” He added that he still had a “glimmer of hope” that the state and concessionaires would reach a deal without the need for invoking WSIA.
According to the Pakatan leaders, the above statements contradicted the joint statement issued by the Minister with the Selangor Menteri Besar on 11 of March after the water concessionaires Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (SYABAS) and Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Holdings (SPLASH) had rejected the RM9.65 bilion buyout offer made by the state government.
Pua had also added that the U-turn was a betrayal of the spirit of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the state and federal government on 26th February 2014 which implied the nationalisation of the Selangor water industry in exchange for the construction of the Langat 2 water treatment plant.
“Dr Maximus Ongkili must stop pretending to wait for “a glimmer of hope”. Such hopes have vanished. The water crisis in Selangor must be resolved immediately and the rakyat must not wait a day longer. We must have no sympathies for these water companies who have already made hundreds of millions of ringgit in profits, and yet persist to reject a more-than-fair buyout offer by the state government.” they added.
The Pakatan leaders concluded that there is no legal necessity for the state to fulfill its obligations in the MOU, when the Federal Government has failed to even demonstrate their commitment. -The Rocket
