Forum failed to address Selangor’s water woes, says Noh
KUALA SELANGOR, June 13 — A forum about water issues hosted by the Selangor government yesterday has not been able to address the depletion of treated water reserves faced by the state, said Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar.
He said such a forum would not be able to provide solutions to resolve treated water woes as long as the state government refused to discuss the restructuring of the water industry with water concession companies.
“Can the resolution adopted at the forum solve the water problem in Selangor? The construction of 129 factories in the state had to be put on hold as the state’s water reserve stands at only 2.4 per cent,” he told reporters after attending the Kuala Selangor Teacher’s Day celebration here today.
Noh, who is also Selangor Umno liaison committee deputy chairman, was commenting on the forum which adopted a resolution rejecting the Langat 2 water treatment project, which instead would study a proposal to use groundwater and mining pools.
In another development, Noh urged Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim to reveal the financial position of Universiti Industri Selangor (Unisel), which was feared to be in financial quandary, and questioned the state government’s proposal to liquidate Unisel’s assets worth about RM30 million.
Speaking to reporters in the Parliament lobby, Noh challenged the Selangor government to take legal action against its cronies involved in malpractices and abuse of power.
He questioned why no action had been taken against them, including Yayasan Selangor general manager Ilham Marzuki, who had admitted that the foundation had spent lavishly in 2010, including on its 40th anniversary celebrations.
In March, the mentri besar recommended Ilham be sacked after an audit on the education foundation chalked up a RM7.41 million deficit from January to November 2010. — Bernama
