SAJ Ranhill’s water services licence in Johor renewed

Concession extended by 3 years to end-2020 following SPAN recommendation

RANHILL Holdings Bhd’s 80 per cent unit, SAJ Ranhill Sdn Bhd, has had its licence as the exclusive water services operator in Johor renewed for three years from January 1 next year to December 31 2020.

The renewal was recommended by the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) and approved by the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry, said Ranhill.

“The approval was granted following a rigorous performance review, in compliance with Section 17 of the Water Service In- dustry Act 2006 and Section 7 of the Water Service Industry (Licensing) Regulation 2007,” said Ranhill president and chief executive Tan Sri Hamdan Mohamad in a statement yesterday.

Since 1999, SAJ has been the sole provider of water supply services in Johor. It initially had a 30-year Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) concession.

In 2009, SAJ voluntarily surrendered its concession and migrated to the licensing regime. This is to comply with the government’s aspiration to promote policy objectives for water supply services through the establishment of a licensing and regulatory framework.

Ranhill said since the migration to a licensing regime, SAJ had demonstrated consistency and reliability in fulfilling the goals set by SPAN.

Hamdan said SAJ was in full compliance with reducing water loss or non-revenue water (NRW) in Johor and had the lowest NRW per kilometre of pipe in Malaysia.

SAJ operates and maintains 1,986 million litres of water per day (mld).

It has reduced Johor’s NRW to 24.7 per cent at the end of June from more than 40 per cent in 1999. The physical water loss was only 15.4 m3 per kilometre of pipe per day.

SAJ’s operation cost of RM498,312 per 1,000 m3 up to last month was well within the target set by SPAN, said the company.

“We expect to see rapid and sustained growth in Johor on the back of an annual increase in water consumption by 3.7 per cent from new housing developments, rapid industrialisation and increased commercial activities,” said Hamdan.

Ranhill has a total of 17 water and wastewater concessions on BOT, Takeover-Operate-Transfer and Built-Transfer-Operate bases with an aggregate treatment capacity of 290 mld and 102mld in China (40 per cent owned subsidiary) and Thailand (wholly-owned subsidiary), respectively.

In China, existing key wastewater treatment concessions have been identified for expansion, including the Xiaolan plant (from 80 to 150 mld), Yihuan plant (from 5.0 to 15 mld), and Wanzai plant (from 5.0 to 12.5 mld).

Meanwhile, Hamdan said the Chongren and Yong Xin wastewater treatment plants had been earmarked for further upgrades to meet strict regulator standards.

“T he 10- mld Yong F eng wastewater treatment plant is scheduled for completion in the middle of next year and we hope to secure a new wastewater treatment concession in Fenxin for a 20-mld plant,” he added.

In Thailand, Ranhill secured a seven-mld water reclamation plant on a BOT scheme.

This, on top of upgrades to its existing 10 mld wastewater treatment plant within Amata City Industrial Park planned for the middle of next year, will increase the group’s total treatment capacity to 114 mld.