S’gor to finalise free water policy
> Outcome to be announced during the tabling of the state budget at end-November, says mentri besar
KUALA LUMPUR: The Selangor state government is likely to complete its free water programme policy review and announce the outcome, at the soonest, during the tabling of the state budget at the end of November.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Invest Selangor – Selangor International Business Summit 2018 (SIBS), Selangor mentri besar Amirudin Shari said the review is necessary to determine the subsidy target for the programme.
The outcome he said, could be possibly announced during the state budget tabling in November at the earliest or could be delayed to next year, should it require more time.
He noted that the cost for the free water programme has risen from RM70 million in 2008 when it first started to RM200 million at present due to the increasing number of premises.
“We should have a long-term plan and our focus is to upgrade the B40 group... maybe we have to see how to do it and make sure the implementation is beneficial for the targeted (B40) group.
“Free water is one of our pillar programmes, that’s why it’s not easy to remove or change it,” he added.
Meanwhile, Amirudin projected that the state’s revenue for 2018 could be to the tune of RM2.25 billion. For the first seven months of the year, its revenue stood at RM1.6 billion.
Having contributed to 23% or RM270 billion to the country’s gross domestic product in 2017, the Selangor state surpassed its revenue target of RM2.5 billion last year after having registered RM2.8 billion.
As for investments, the state’s manufacturing sector is expected see an inflow of investments amounting to RM7 billion this year, up from the RM5.5 billion to RM5.8 billion last year.
Noting that 60% of Selangor’s businesses are from the services sector, Amirudin said the investment raked by the services and manufacturing sectors collectively exceeded RM10 billion last year.
The second series of SIBS started yesterday and will go on until Sept 16. The summit features three main events: the 4th Edition Selangor International Expo (Sept 6-9); the 2nd Edition Selangor Asean Business Conference (Sept 6-7); and Selangor Smart City & Digital Economy Convention 2018 (Sept 13-15).
SIBS features 1,000 booths with participation from 23 countries.
In his keynote speech, Amirudin said the success of the summit in 2017 has strengthened Malaysia’s profile on the global map as one of the most important business partners in the Asean region.
“I believe the summit has successfully positioned Selangor, as a solid trading platform where the community is able to gather with a common purpose – to do business – all in one place, Selangor, The Gateway to Asean,” he said.
The SIBS series started as Selangor International Expo 2015, a food and beverage expo, which saw transactions of RM50 million.
It grew to RM204.2 million last year.