KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 10): The Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) will officially become the sole licensee for water treatment and distribution to consumers in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya beginning Friday.

Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari said Air Selangor had successfully completed the acquisition of all five privately owned concessionaires in April.

They are Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB Water), Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (SYABAS), Konsortium ABASS Sdn Bhd (ABASS), Konsortium Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (KASB) and Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (SPLASH). 

"The success of this restructuring means that all concessions will be terminated," he said in his speech here today.

Asked on the possibility of increase in water tariff, he said the current rate needed to be revised.

"As I promise, I do not deny increase of the tariff, but we have to get the formula (for the revision),” he said. 

In addition, Amirudin said the state government and Air Selangor had implemented various plans and initiatives to improve the services after taking over two concessionaires in Oct 2015.

"For example, the state government has completed two new water treatment plants namely Semenyih 2 and Labohan Dagang at a cost of RM800 million to increase the treated water reserve margin in Selangor," he said.

Amirudin said Air Selangor had spent RM1.1 billion from 2016 to 2018 to upgrade the water supply infrastructures including water treatment plants, ponds and pipeline replacement works as well as the non-revenue water (NRW) reduction programme.

"... frequency ratio for burst pipe incidents, based on the number of burst pipe per 100 kilometres, showed a decrease from 20 cases in 2016 to 13 cases in 2018," he said. — Bernama