SHAH ALAM – The need to review the water tariff will be pressing if almost all companies managing water supply are operating at a loss.
Selangor Infrastructure and Agriculture executive councillor Izham Hashim said the current tariff is still too low while the capital expenditure is quite high.
He said there was no review of the water tariff for more than 20 years.
“The water tariff has not been reviewed for more than 20 years. Electricity was quite frequent. Actually almost all water management companies are operating at a loss,” he said when contacted today.
Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said during the Q & A session at the Dewan Rakyat on November 9 that the state governments, cross-party, agreed at the National Water Council meeting that water tariffs in the states should be reviewed and a new tariff setting mechanism established to regulate the rate of tariff increases by operating companies.
In the meantime, Izham said that so far the state government has implemented several initiatives to increase the profits of companies managing water, including the construction of new water treatment plants as well as the replacement of outdated pipes to reduce water leakages.
Izham also gave a commitment that the recipients of the Darul Ehsan Water Scheme (SADE) free water programme consisting of the state’s B40 group will not be affected following the expected increase in the new water tariff.
“SADE recipients will not be affected by this (increase in) tariff. Those involved are only commercial and domestic users who use more than 20 cubic metres of water,” he said.
He said to date, almost 400,000 Selangor citizens from the B40 group are qualified to register for the programme and those who wish to do so can go to https://ssipr.selangor.gov.my/ for more information.
SADE is a realignment programme to provide free water to the target group of Selangor residents with a household income of RM5,000 and below and aims to reduce the cost of living, especially for the low-income group. – December 21, 2023