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More than just Cheap Water

Posted in Daily Observations, Effective and Efficient, Health & Medical, Malaysia Mutual Fund & Unit Trust, Mother Earth |

Have a look at the chart, courtesy of PJ Utara’s MP- Tony Pua.

Source: tonypua.blogspot.com

Source: tonypua.blogspot.com

How is it that the water in Penang is 50% much cheaper than the water in Selangor? Whatever happened to economy of scale?

Also, observe carefully the rate at 35m?. If you are living in Selangor, the moment you used more than 35m?, you are paying at the rate of RM2.00/m?. Ouch!

It would be interesting to know what’s the usage of water for the average household in Selangor. I’m living in a high-rise condo, where the rate is RM1.38/m?. Sigh…and it was almost one year ago when SYABAS was announcing that they will provide each individual unit its own water meter, instead of the bulk meter that is currently used by most condominiums in Selangor.


Well, other than using the price as a metric, it would be interesting also to judge these water utilities companies how well they are managing one of the most important asset in the state. We have to realize that our water supply is not infinite. The state government should also impose a new ruling to check how much water these companies are treating in their plants and how much water end up in the public’s tap. This way, we can ensure the water pipes are not being ‘pirated’ and that leakages are not being subsidized by the public. The efficiency of the water delivery network is the responsibility of the private water companies. Isn’t this why the water utilities companies were being privatised in the first place- to ensure accountability and better quality control?

Also, the quality of water is getting from bad to worse, evident with the number of water filters installed throughout the households in Klang Valley. We are not even asking for these companies to deliver water that we can drank straight from the tap. We are only asking that the water comes into our taps without hazardous compound. Yes, low water tariff is good, but who is going to ensure that the quality of the water is safe for our consumption?





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  • Name
    Why not bring the matter to the Malaysian Minister of Green Energy and Water?
    His blog is here:
    http://peterchin.kettha.gov.my/
  • Harith Ibrahim
    I was reading an article "Sokonglah Usaha Kerajaan Negeri Selangor Untuk Mengamil alih Syarikat2 Konsesi Air Demi Manfaat Rakyat" in which I find that there are few questions that need to be answered by the Selangor State Government.
    1. There are three operators in Selangor and not SYABAS alone.
    2. It is interesting to note that the State by taking over the water concessions will be able to reduce the tariffs by about 20% from the present rate in 2011. The question is how the State Government going to do it?
    3. The rate quoted is wrongly quoted as the intial price is only RM0.57/m3 while it was stated as RM1.33/m3. If the increase is 31%, then the price will only be RM0.66/m3 which I think is reasonable for the public.
    4. From my personal experience, SYABAS has provided decent services since they took over from PUAS. I do not understand as to why you have said that they are not providing good services.

    Please convince me by answering the above questions as I do not want that the new company that takes over SYABAS will not be able to fulfil their obligations to provide better services to the consumers.
  • owl
    @mtsen: would you mind clarifying where you got the information that the governments of Penang and Singapore subsidize water tariffs?

    BTW, water in Singapore is not cheap. On top of the tariffs, there are the water conservation tax (30%) and GST (7%) to pay as well.
    http://www.pub.gov.sg/mpublications/FactsandFig...
  • usually island like penang and spore who buy water will enjoy lower rate thanks to the subsidize from the govt, else noone would want to stay on the island.

    the whole of water quality thing also involve city planning and the whole of architectural culture changes, which most do not forsee any improvement in old cities
  • i wonder what will happend if syabas increase 30% water tariff as claim ealier. 2.60/35m³to PBA 1.00/200m³? OMG.
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