Just when you thought the Selangor government was taking a commendably tough position in its negotiations to take over water assets from four private concessionaires ahead of a water tariff hike from April…
Now we hear that the federal National Water Services Commission (Span) is trying to bypass the Selangor government in negotiating directly with the four concessionaires. Why?
The Selangor government had given the concessionaires until 20 February to accept its Letter of Offer. But before that deadline can expire, Span has potong jalan.
Selangor Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim said in a statement today:
Instead of supporting the State Government’s initiative to buy back these water concessions in the interest of the rakyat with our fair and reasonable offer, (Span CEO) Dato’ Teo (Yen Hua) appears now to be pandering towards the interest of private concessionaires. We urge that he declares his interest on the matter. If any irregularity is found, we call for his resignation.
The State believes that SPAN’s decision will have deep negative implications on the Malaysians in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. The Selangor Government assures that it shall continue to seek to protect public interests through all available means and to ensure the people of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur are provided with affordable and treated water.
Whose interests is Span really looking out for – the concessionaires’ or the people’s? Let the Selangor government deal directly with the concessionaires in taking over the water assets and give them more time to come up with a deal that is in the best long-term interests of the people.
[...] post: Span throws a spanner into S’gor govt water takeover bid accountability, concessionaires, housing, people, perak, Politic, polls, poverty, selangor, [...]
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So ..what’s the muck on Teo Yen Hua..let’s have it …fast and furious.
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hey, there’s money to be made.
selangor govt offers X.
Federal Govt offers X plus s***.
Between the X and s***, there’s meat ok.
which way you want to slice it, bro?
oops, sorry. its not the Minister. Its the top bosses and the entrepreneur who will always be Ketuanan Melayu.
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What do you expect from…?
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Should we not have laws to counter this kind of blatant bullying….?
We must plug all these excesses, with laws and commensurate penalties. (Not RM100 for invasion of privacy and RM3,000 for gambling amongst friends during CNY!)
Dato’ Teo …. What is he trying to do? …. at the expense of the Rakyat?
New Malaysian
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Privatization malaysian style and ketuanan melayu…. is actually a diabolical plan by the BN to enslaves the rakyat and milking them to support the lifestyle of the BN politicians. To break this evil cycle we must vote the BN OUT and nationalise all the highway, electricity and water concessionaries companies that are actually own by the BN politicial and their cronies. We should now give forewarning to all foreigh investors that they should divest all their holdings in these companies or lost their investments.
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It’s that the reason why MACC has strong reasons or cases against Khalid
Anil,
Sorry to say. I admire your professionalism. I felt no need to highlight issues involving pR government. BN can do a better job.
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Anil,
If we care to google up “water privatization in Selangor”, we will see that when Charles Santiago was leading the coalition against water privatization (CAWP), the fear was that eventually, clean water (a god given resource) will only be available to those who can pay the market price.
One of Lim Keng Yaik’s justification then was that the regulator (SPAN) will be the watchdog to take care of the consumers’ interest.
Also, go read Dato’ Teo’s paper “Restructuring Water Services Manage’mt…” presented at the 3rd. SEA Water Forum at PWTC, to see SPAN’s declared role in water regulation.
There was a constitutional amendment in 2006 to allow the setting up of SPAN.
In the final analysis, the obvious answer, to ensure the interests of the rakyat are taken care of, is to break the monopoly of BN in running the country. Getting rid of their 2/3 majority has been achieved. This is good, but better still, change the govt. at GE13.
Well, that was the declared role…. but let’s wait and see what the reality is. Anil
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Selangor Govt. Make a road show. Involve PAS, DAP and PKR to explain to everyone in Selangor what the Federal Govt is trying to do ie to sabotage the gooodwill of the people’s party. Everyone of rakyat Selangor Malay, Chinese Indian and others should be told the evil intentiuons of SPAN ahich is ofcourse BN Govt’s baby.
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