PETALING JAYA: The Perak state government has asked the Land, Water and Natural Resources Minister, Dr Xavier Jeyakumar, to be the mediator to supply treated water from the state to Selangor and Penang.
Perak Chief Minister, Ahmad Faizal Azamu, said the federal government had tried to approach the ministry several times because Xavier was in a strong position to begin negotiations and Perak remained committed in supplying the resource to the two states.
Ahmad Faizal said the federal government has yet to officially discuss with both the Selangor and Penang governments on the matter, but he is confident that the process will go well.
"Perak is able to provide water catchment areas and the distribution process will be carried out perfectly for both states," he said.
Ahmad Faizal was commenting on the latest developments in the sale of treated water from Perak to Selangor and Penang after the handing over of contribution by Sukan Malaysia (Sukma) Perak to Media Prima Bhd here today.
Faizal had expressed the intention of the Perak government to sell treated water and not raw water to both states.
In his reaction, Xavier said Perak's willingness to supply treated water to Selangor still needs to be assessed, since the Langat Two Water Treatment Plant will start supplying water from November.
Thus, the government is giving priority to Langat Two which has two phases, of which phase one will be implemented before 2023 and Selangor and the Federal Government are now negotiating to kickstart phase two.
He however said Penang had implied previously that it wanted to buy treated water from Perak.
Faizal said the two states are developed states and in need of water resources and labour from Perak.
"We have huge tracts of paddy fields to be gazetted as agriculture land and water catchment areas. I think this is a fair offer for the development of the state and the people," said Faizal.