No water tariff hike
KOTA KINABALU: There are no plans to increase the water tariff considering the plight of the people in Sabah, said Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Peter Anthony.
“We maintain (the water tariff), there is no increase,” he said during a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between the Sabah Water Department and Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) at Wisma KPI in Sembulan here yesterday to provide training to pipe-fitters in Sabah.
“We believe our economic situation today is also not good. The people out there also face hardship at this moment, so we maintain the water tariff until it is announced by the Chief Minister later,” added Peter.
Water, Land Natural Resources Minister Dr A. Xavier Jayakumar had said early this year the water tariff is expected to be increased this year with most state governments having agreed to it.
He said the matter was still being discussed and the amount has yet to be finalized as the states had different tariff rates and some had not reviewed the tariff for years.
Jayakumar said except for two, most Malaysian states have agreed, and he assured that the tariff increase will not burden the people but benefit them as there will be clean water to drink.
On the MoU, Peter said it is expected to save time and reduce costs.
He said in terms of technical aspects, the MoU would not only bring improvements but also increase the skills of current and future license holders under JANS.
“Possibly after the memorandum had been sealed, of course, CIDB will help us in terms of expenses and such. This is a cooperation method that is quite good,” he said.
He added the cooperation could also create competitive and more competent license holders that could better manage the works appointed to them by JANS.
“It is a good method for not only at the level of Infrastructure Development Ministry or not just at the Water Department level, but it should also be expanded to all departments outside of this ministry. I believe it’s time for us to upgrade the technical skills in all ministries and all the holders of licenses in Sabah,” he emphasized.
JANS director Amarjit Singh, CIDB Sabah director Rosmen Ag Hassan and Akademi Binaan Malaysia Sabah Region chief operating officer Tadzul Radim were at the ceremony to ink the MoU.