SERDANG: The current water supply disruption in Selangor reflects the weakness and inefficiency of the state government in managing the basic needs of the people, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
He said the disruption had made life difficult for the people.
“As the minister responsible for water resources, I have to say that our country does not face a water supply issue. What happened in Selangor is the failure in water management,” he said to reporters after presenting excellent service awards to the staff of the ministry here today.
Wan Junaidi said the Selangor government must take the management and maintenance of water resources and the supply of water seriously if it wanted to take care of the people and their needs.
The water disruption in several areas in the Klang Valley since Wednesday is expected to prolong following an explosion at the surge vessel system at the Sungai Selangor water treatment plant in Ijok, Selangor, during maintenance work.
“I see this as a weakness. When the maintenance work was nearing completion and water supply was about to resume a pipe bursts. How can that happen? If there was proper maintenance, the pipe would not have exploded,” he said.
In KUALA LUMPUR, the Pandan MCA Division urged the Selangor government to solve the water supply crisis immediately, saying it was jeopardising the lives of many people.
Its chief, Datuk Leong Kok Hwei, said the water disruption had greatly affected the people in the Ampang and Pandan areas, particularly traders and those living in flats.
“The flat-dwellers have to depend on water tankers sent by Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor once a day, usually at night. People have to remain awake until late into the night to fetch the water and take it up to their units by the stairs,” he said to reporters after handing out roses to the people at the Taman Muda morning market in conjunction with International Women’s Day.
Leong also said that some restaurants and hawkers had to shut down their operations due to the absence of water supply.
He said the state government should cooperate with the federal government to find a mechanism to resolve the water crisis that had haunted the people of Selangor for far too long instead of pointing fingers.
In REMBAU, Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan gave the undertaking of the state government that there would be no repeat of the water disruption of 2008.
He said that following the incident, the state government had made sure that every water treatment plant in the state was connected to underground pipes which could feed water to the plants as a backup measure in the event of a shortage of water.
Water would be of great necessity in the state due to intensive development, including the Malaysia Vision Valley project, he said, adding that he had instructed the relevant authorities to build a water treatment plant in Linggi that could provide 500 million litres of water daily.
He had earlier officially opened the second phase of the Sawah Raja Water Treatment Plant. - BERNAMA