Welcome to live coverage of the water protest in KL today.
Dec 042010
What is the dispute between the Selangor government and the federal government over water supply and distribution in the state all about?
Essentially, the state government wants to take over water operations in the state because it feels that the politcally well-connected private firm Syabas has been inefficient and not complied with the terms of the concession agreement. The federal government could well bail out Syabas – with public funds. The Selangor government is also against Syabas’ plan for a 37 per cent tariff hike.
It all began under Mahathir’s ill-conceived privatisation policy. The website airuntukrakyat goes on to explain:
• Starting in 1997, BN privatised the various water companies in Selangor.
• Since then, Syabas and the others have exploited the people by draining them of hundreds of millions in cash.
• At present, the Selangor State Government wishes to return the right to control these companies back to the people. Continue reading »
Feb 242010
The Selangor state government has received a letter of demand for RM339 million for its refusal to allow a hike in water tariffs last year.
The compensation claim was contained in a letter from the lawyers of Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas), Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim revealed in a statement this evening. The letter gave the Selangor government 14 days to pay up.
Syabas is 70 per cent owned by Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd, which is in turn 41 per cent controlled by Puncak Niaga executive chairman Rozali Ismail. According to Puncak Niaga’s Annual Report for 2008, directors’ earnings for the Puncak Niaga group totalled RM11.6 million for the year with the highest paid director earning more than RM5.7 million.
