PM WANTS TO REVISE WATER DEAL

Dr M aims to raise price of water sold to Singapore by more than 10 times

PRIME Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday he was seeking to hike the price of water sold to Singapore by more than 10 times.

Dr Mahathir, who shot back to power in an electoral upset in May, told The Associated Press that a decades-old treaty governing the water agreement needed to be revised to reflect increases in the cost of living.

The water deal has long been a point of contention between the two countries. Dr Mahathir said in June he wanted to renegotiate the deal.

Malaysia sells water to Singapore at 3 sen per thousand gallons and buys treated water at 50 sen per thousand gallons.

Dr Mahathir said by comparison, Johor sold water to Melaka at 30 sen per 1,000 gallons — a rate he described as “charitable” given that it’s a domestic deal.

“To a foreign country, we need to get more than that,” he said. He declined to discuss specifics, citing ongoing negotiations.

Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said his country would live up to the agreement and expected Malaysia to do the same.

Dr Mahathir continued to cast doubt on the value of a highspeed rail project linking the Kuala Lumpur to the wealthy island city-state.

He announced the cancellation of the project in May as part of a wider review of big-ticket infrastructure deals reached under his predecessor, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, though the government had since reconsidered and was trying to renegotiate the terms.

“We cannot afford it. If the price is brought down within our means, then maybe we’ll go ahead,” he said, adding that it would be preferable to improve existing train lines to improve travel times.