No pipes does not mean no water
The Star 20/11/2006 By DHARMENDER SINGH

PETALING JAYA: Consumers in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya will not be left high and dry if there is a water cut due to a delay in pipe repair works.

Selangor Infrastructure and Public Utility Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Fatah Iskandar gave this assurance yesterday following concerns that the current shortage of water pipes would disrupt water supply.

He said concessionaire Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) had informed him that it would send water tankers and also place static tanks at housing estates areas affected by water cuts.

“The shortage of pipes is causing serious delays in repair works but this does not mean that we will leave the thousands of affected consumers without any water supply,” he said yesterday.

Fatah was commenting on the legal battle Syabas was embroiled in, that had led to an injunction restraining the concessionaire and its related parties from purchasing, obtaining, dealing, negotiating and receiving its requirements for pipes and fittings in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

Syabas had said on Saturday that it was running out of pipes due to the injunction and could not purchase new ones to conduct repairs in various places like Taman Melawati, where about 3,000 homes have been without water supply since Friday afternoon.

On the lawsuit, Fatah said the state government had decided to refrain from commenting on the issue as it was now a court matter and any comment could be cited as “contempt of court.”

Consumers facing water supply problems can call the 24-hour PUSPEL toll-free line at 1-800-88-5252 or type PUSPEL