Syabas aware of issues facing condo dwellers

The Star 15/11/2006

IN response to the StarMetro article ‘Water Tariff Hike the Issue’ on Nov 13, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) has issued a statement saying it is fully aware of the issues facing condominium dwellers.

Syabas does not have any plans to defer the water tariff increase as requested but assured concerned residents that it was working to solve the problems.

“First and foremost, Syabas wishes to thank the newspaper and APPAC condominium, apartments and high-rise Sub-Committee (CAHC) for bringing to its attention the issue faced by condominium owners,” said Syabas corporation communications and customer services executive director Naemuddin Abdullah in the statement.

Naemuddin admitted that there is a need for a migration from bulk meter accounts to individual meter accounts for condominium owners.

“However, this migration requires certain procedures due to the existence of the previous agreements between the owners and the management companies; as such procedures have legal implications thus requiring the consent from the respective management companies for the migration to take place.

“Currently, Syabas is ironing out details of the guidelines with the Selangor State Government and shall make it available upon approval by the latter,” said Naemuddin.

There was no timeline given as to when Syabas would announce and implement such guidelines.

Naemuddin further clarified that RM1.38 is not a commercial rate but rather a new condominium rate, which was adjusted during the recent tariff restructuring from the previous RM1.20. The commercial rate is RM2.07 (up to 35m3) and RM2.28 (above 35m3).

“The reason for the tariff adjustment was to provide a fair and equitable rate to approximately 420,000 dwelling units whose water is supplied through about 2,200 registered bulk meters.

“The adjusted tariff structure enables the individual unit of the condominium to be metered and billed directly by Syabas under domestic rate of 0.57 sen (for consumption under 20 cubic metres),” said Naemuddin.