‘Renegotiating water rates with Singapore a right move’
JOHOR BARU: Johor Barisan Nasional, which is the opposition in the state, has expressed its full support to the state government’s efforts to renegotiate the water rates with Singapore.
State opposition leader Datuk Hasni Mohammad said it was about time the deal, where Singapore only paid three sen per 1,000 gallons of water, was reviewed.
Hasni said the water tariff negotiations were previously cancelled when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister in the 1980s.
He said it happened when Singapore imposed numerous conditions such as the Keretapi Tanah Melayu land in Tanjong Pagar, sand export quota, airspace usage and also their employee provident fund (CPF) contributor status.
“Now, those conditions should no longer arise because they are not an issue any more or have already been resolved,” he said.
Hasni, who was the state Public Works, Rural and Regional Development Committee chairman in the BN administration, said the state government should not worry as even Attorney-General Tommy Thomas had confirmed that Malaysia had the right to propose new rates.
The Benut assemblyman said raw water supply of 250 million gallons a day would “make Singapore do anything to guarantee their position”.
The issue of cheap water supply to Singapore has been raised again after Dr Mahathir said the price of raw water sold to Singapore was “ridiculous”.
Under a deal inked in 1962, Singapore can import up to 250 million gallons of water from the Johor River every day from Malaysia — around 58 per cent of its current daily water needs — at a cost of three sen per 1,000 gallons.