Source : FZ.com

Santiago says SPAN is slow in enforcing the law and this raises the question of its pro-Syabas bias.

CYBERJAYA (Jan 18): The National Water Services Commission (SPAN) should take action now on the parties that are responsible for the disruption of water supply in Selangor, a watchdog group says.
 
The commission should also act independently, said the Coalition Against Water Privatisation (CAWP). It noted that SPAN, as the regulator of the water industry, had been silent over the issue of the maintenance of water pumps that had caused the disruption in supply in Wangsa Maju, Selangor. It was also slow in enforcing the law, the coalition said.
 
“This raises the fundamental question of SPAN not being neutral,” Charles Santiago, a representative of the coalition, said.  “Only when you enforce the law are you seen as being independent. Given the political linkages of government leaders and Puncak (Niaga) and Syabas, people just believe that you are working together with Syabas.”
 
Syabas is the sole distributor for treated water in Selangor, while Puncak Niaga Holdings has a 70% equity stake in Syabas.
 
Santiago and four other delegates of CAWP met Marzuki Mohammad, the Executive Director of the Regulatory Department for Water, and Mohd Ridhuan, the Executive Director of the Regulatory Department for Sewerage, today to voice their concerns over the maintenance of the water supply infrastructure.
 
The coalition representatives asked SPAN officials whether it will take action against Syabas or Puncak Niaga if these companies were found responsible for the disruptions, Santiago, who is the MP for Klang and a DAP leader, said. 
 
The officers responded that since the commission and the water service industry are still new, SPAN will give the companies more time, said Santiago.
 
However, the coalition gave a two-week ultimatum to the commission to act on the problem in the Wangsa Maju area and to come out with a plan to prevent the situation from occuring again in Selangor.
 
If there is no positive action from the Commission, CAWP will seek a meeting with the Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Datuk Peter Chin, Santiago told the press after the meeting here today.
 
The delegation was told that SPAN had audited the Wangsa Maju water pump station but it refused to comment on the outcome of the audit.
 
“I would like to think that they’ve done the audit and they also noted the problem but they do nothing about it. If they’ve done the audit they would have spotted the problem: out of the five pumps, one of the pumps failed and this was one year ago,” Santiago said.
 
As a result, he said, the other four pumps were overloaded and collapsed.
 
It was reported earlier that the water disruptions, which occurred in the Wangsa Maju area for about three weeks, had affected 100,000 families.
 
During the meeting, the delegation was also informed by the SPAN that a committee will be set up to find soulutions to the problems in Wangsa Maju in two to three months. However, Santiago opined that this was too long.
 
The committee will consist of representatives from the Public Works Department, Selangor Economic Planning Unit (UPEN) and other agencies.
 
CAWP made a counter proposal to SPAN to form an urgent team to check all water infrastructure in Selangor and make sure the pumps are in working condition.
 
Other representatives of the coalition who were present were veteran unionist Senator Syed Shahrir, CAWP member Sarajun Hoda and Malaysian Trades Union Congress Vice President Roszeli Majid.