The Selangor Mentri Besar said he was surprised that the Energy, Green Technology and Water minister had made a public statement on the matter when he has yet to reply to Azmin’s letter asking permission for the water deal to be publicly disclosed.
“The federal government has explained why they cannot reveal contents of water deal.
“I will wait for minister reply before deciding further,” he told reporters here after officiating an event at the Viva Home shopping mall.
Earlier today, Ongkili had reportedly said that his ministry would not disclose the contents of the water deal, following legal advice from the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).
“After advice from the AGC, we feel that it is not time to disclose the water deal.
“People already know (the contents) because it has been mentioned in the memorandum of understanding (MoU), Heads of Agreement (HoA) and master agreement,” online news portal The Malaysian Insider quoted him as saying.
Ongkili added that a full disclosure needed an agreement from all stakeholders including state water concessionaires.
Azmin is demanding that the federal government publicly disclose all contents of the recently-signed water restructuring agreement made during his predecessor’s time.
He had said that such a move was necessary as a first step in reviewing the controversial water deal.
Under the water agreement, Selangor will infuse a new special purpose vehicle with RM14.92 billion in assets to manage the water restructuring exercise now finalised with Putrajaya.
Former Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said last month the asset injection will go to a new entity, Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd, which will come into operation after the state concludes the takeover of assets and liabilities currently held by water concessionaires operating in Selangor.
The federal government will also provide RM2 billion to help offset the state’s cost of taking over the four concessionaires — Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas), Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd, Konsortium Abbas Sdn Bhd and Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (SPLASH).
The new SPV will be under the control of state-owned Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad.
Of the four concessionaires, only Syabas, Puncak Niaga and Konsortium Abbas have agreed in principle to Selangor’s combined offer of RM7.817 billion.
SPLASH has said it will negotiate its acquisition separately.
Khalid’s administration had initially made a combined offer of RM9.651 billion to take over assets and liabilities of the four concessionaires.
SPLASH rejected the offer outright, however, which pushed Selangor to threaten to enforce Section 114 of the Water Services Industry Act 2006. The law provision allows Putrajaya to forcibly acquire a concessionaire.
Separately, the assets and liabilities of the three concessionaires that have agreed to the terms will be transferred to Perbadanan Aset Air Berhad on a 45-year lease, covering all liabilities such as water debts and bonds valued at RM6.1 billion, and water assets owned by the concessionaires.
The facilities and service licences will be issued to Air Selangor by the National Water Services Commission, along with the proposed Langat 2 water treatment plant which will be leased to and managed by Air Selangor.
The water restructuring plan and the Langat 2 project were among several reasons given by PKR in deciding to remove Khalid from office.
-malaymailonline
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