SPLASH KEPT ITS END OF THE DEAL
PETALING JAYA: Repair works of a damaged check valve was successfully completed ahead of schedule before an “accidental bursting” regrettably occurred at the Sungai Selangor Phase 3 (SSP3) Bukit Badong water treatment plant.
Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (SPLASH) said the plant was about to resume operations when the bursting caused extensive structural damage to the surge vessel system.
“The urgency of restoration was so critical that it required the immediate mobilisation of some 50 workers on site, working round the clock continuously.
“It involved the extensive use of equipment – two mobile cranes, three excavators and eight welding sets during the incident at 4.15pm on March 6,” it said yesterday.
SPLASH said it provided regular updates to officials from the water regulator – National Water Services Commission (Span) and Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) – who were also on site to monitor the progress of repair works.
But it said the public dissemination of regular updates was the responsibility of Air Selangor as the water distributor.
SPLASH said since 2013, several letters had been submitted to the Selangor state government, highlighting that its plants were never designed to operate beyond its design capacity on a long-term basis, and that doing so would cause intrinsic damage to the plants.
“It would pose a high risk of unexpected breakdowns. Initial investigations showed that the bursting of the surge vessel system was due to stress at the elbow joints, due primarily to continuous overloading of the system.
“SPLASH has a total of 10 pumps on site. It only needs five pumps to produce treated water to its overloaded capacity, while the other five were spares.
“Therefore, the fact that the other four pumps were under repair was inconsequential and totally unrelated to the incident or the operations of the plant,” it said.
SPLASH also highlighted another potential power disruption to its plants.
It said its operators Sungai Harmoni Sdn Bhd (SSP1) and Gamuda Water Sdn Bhd (SSP3) have been served with writs of summons from Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) for recovery of unpaid electricity bills, amounting to RM36mil and RM39mil respectively.
In respect of the unpaid bills, SPLASH said that TNB has also threatened to cut off power supply to its plants.
“Shortly after Air Selangor acquired the other water companies (Syabas, Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd and Konsortium Abass Sdn Bhd) in 2016, Syabas under its new administration proceeded to reduce pay- ment to SPLASH to only about 36% of billings.
“At that level, it was no longer possible for SPLASH’s operators to pay for TNB bills, chemicals and other overheads,” it said, adding that prior to the takeover, SPLASH operators had been able to “fully settle all TNB bills”.
It also pointed out that during several dialogues arranged by the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry to mediate between SPLASH and Syabas, it was explained that the reduction in payments to SPLASH was necessitated by Air Selangor having to service new lease payments to Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd for funding its equity purchase of water companies.
“We are of the opinion that if Syabas/Air Selangor as a Group is short of cash, then they should rightly seek cash injection from the Selangor state government.
“The main priority should be to pay its creditors before any excess is used to pay Air Selangor for lease rental or other payments.
“In spite of having to suffer the chronic underpayments, SPLASH is committed to ensuring uninterrupted water supply,” it said.
SPLASH also pointed out that when Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh and Klang MP Charles Santiago “rushed to lecture on responsibility and apportion blame”, they must be “blissfully uninformed”.
“We have at all times produced water to desired quality and quantity according to demands and have never defaulted in our obligations as an operator under its concession agreement with the state government,” it stressed.
In addition, SPLASH said it has always carried out its scheduled maintenance work and has been regularly audited by SPAN, the latest being last year.
It remains committed to maintaining the highest standards of quality and preparedness for contingencies.
SPLASH is certified to international Quality, Environment, Safety and Health standards and has passed its yearly certification with zero non-conformity reports for the past seven years.