No forced takeover of water assets: Ongkili

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 12, 2014): The federal government is not undertaking a force takeover of water assets in Selangor, as sufficient space will be given for all parties to reach a mutual agreement, said Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili.
"We have signaled our intention of using Section 114 but we still want to give the space for willing buyer, willing seller under the framework," said Ongkili, adding that he hopes the matter will be resolved in the next "few weeks".
Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim had, on Jan 8, announced that the state and federal governments will be jointly taking over the management of the four water concessionaires under Section 114 of the Water Services Industry Act 2006.
However, Ongkili yesterday expressed the willingness of the federal government to "sit down" and "find a solution" together with the state government to ensure the water supply is sufficient for the people in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.
"We are now in the process of completing in negotiation with the Selangor state government. The discussion is still on-going, I am confident and hopefully many things will be finalised in the next few weeks," he said.
"We can come to some conclusion with respect to what has been discussed over the past six months. We have worked very hard and we are almost there, now is just the terms of agreement that need to be finalised," he continued.
As long as both parties put the people's interest over political interest, Ongkili said, the water shortage issue can be resolved.
"I want to warn that the water in the dam is very low and we need water outside the state to ensure necessary requirement of the people are met," he said.
Ongkili was speaking to reporters after Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB)'s Chinese New Year charity lunch here yesterday.
On a separate note, TNB CEO Datuk Seri Azman Mohd said the group's performance will be stable this year as the electricity tariff hike, which has taken into consideration on fuel and energy cost, is expected to keep it "out of the red".
Asked about another round of power tariff hike in the next review, Azman said it would depend on the fuel cost which was driven by global market prices.
"Currently, coal prices are going down but energy prices are going up. We shall see if the two will offset each other," he said.