KUALA LUMPUR: Former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng has chastised the Penang Water Supply Corporation head for allegedly asking people to store more water, instead of providing more tankers on standby.
Free Malaysia Today had reported that in a leaked video of a closed-door meeting, Lim had taken the company's chief executive officer K Pathmanathan to task ahead of a four-day water shutdown in the state next week.
The report wrote that Lim was upset when Pathmanathan said it was the public's responsibility to store at least two days' worth of water at all times.
Lim, who is also Air Putih assemblyman, had said it was impossible to pressure the people to store water, as space in most Penang homes was limited.
"It is our responsibility to give water. Don't say it's the people's responsibility to keep water.
"Don't forget that we are the government. Our basic work is to give water to the rakyat," FMT quoted him as saying.
The closed-door event was hosted by Penang Water Supply Corporation at Komtar on Wednesday.
In the two-minute video, Lim had told Pathmanathan to rent more water tankers and not just think about saving money. He also said the water tankers should be placed in areas such as Bayan Lepas, which was at the end of the supply pipeline.
"If possible, make sure people are not waiting for water, but the water is waiting for people.
"If there are not enough tankers, rent more water tankers, get more containers out of state and spend money.
"Don't talk about saving money. Lives are at stake, Mr CEO," Lim had added. The four-day water supply interruption from Jan 10 to 14 would affect some 590,000 consumers in Penang, including non-domestic consumers in all key industrial areas.
The interruption was to cater to two major valve replacement works in Sungai Dua, Butterworth, and would be one of the major planned disruptions in nearly three decades.Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said 10 units of jumbo water tankers with a 20,000 to 30,000-litre capacity each would be deployed to cope with the disruption, which is expected to affect 85 per cent of the state.