Make water report public
The Star 9/11/2006 By M. KRISHNAMOORTHY

KUALA LUMPUR: Two bodies opposing the 15% water rate increase want the Government to make the Auditor-General’s report on non-revenue water available, as it was the basis used for the revision.

In a letter to Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik, the MTUC and Coalition Against Water Privatisation urged the Government to be transparent as the increases in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya effective Nov 1 were substantial and burdened the consumers.

In an interview, MTUC president Syed Sharir Syed Mahmud said the increase was allowed despite the Government already having given a grant and loans amounting to RM3bil to Syabas, the distributor of water in Selangor.

“Why does the Government have to go back to the people to subsidise Syabas when its parent company has a pre-tax profit of RM100mil?” he asked.

“This is a case of the government’s promise of privatisation being cost-efficient. Instead, the burden is being transferred to the public.”

He said the Government should also explain why it paid Syabas RM152mil as compensation for not implementing the increase in January.

In the letter, Syed Sharir said: “In the interest of transparency, we are asking the Government to make public the report together with the concession agreement between the Federal and Selangor governments and Syabas.”