Returning Malaysia's Rivers To L - Malaysian Water Association.

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Country Focus because it involves the states’ position in the Constitution. The centralisation of the water services industry in Malaysia is necessary mainly because many state governments and private concessionaires are unable to invest heavily in the requisite infrastructure to address NRW—a major water problem in almost all states. Although reforms in the water services industry are in place, there are still criticisms leveled at the reforms for not doing enough to encourage water conservation, especially in changing consumer behavior. There is a general reluctance among state governments to raise water tariffs. The reforms introduce water forums to open up dialogues on water tariff issues between SPAN and consumer groups. Providing a workable funding mechanism using PPP: The Kuala Lumpur experience shows that a privatisation model that relies completely on the private sector to finance infrastructure is not sustainable in the long term. For example, the pipe replacement program of SYABAS will cost at least RM2.6 billion. It borrowed in the open bond market to raise funds. It is facing difficulty in meeting debt repayment because it has used tariff reviews that are scheduled in the concession agreement to support payment. A 37% increase in the water tariff scheduled for 2009 did not proceed, resulting in SYABAS seeking legal discourse. In the case of IWK where its earlier privatisation exercise failed, its new PPP model where both the government and the private sector work jointly to finance the heavy investment helped IWK address its funding problems and improve its services. Another example of PPP in Kuala Lumpur is the SMART project. The cost-sharing arrangement with the private sector financing only a third of the total cost worked to make the flood control project a reality. The restructuring of the water services industry by the federal government shows a recent trend toward the PPP model in the water sector and in other major infrastructure projects. Through this, the government has created a special funding vehicle for infrastructure investment. In the water services industry, it has set up PAAB to rationalise all water assets in Peninsular Malaysia. In a largely fragmented industry, PAAB will take over the water assets of 11 states (excluding Sabah and Sarawak) and the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Labuan. PAAB will repay the owners of the assets, take over, and then lease the water assets to private operators, which will be licensed by SPAN to carry out their tasks. The lease terms will take into consideration the cost of assets and funding, viability of the water business, future profitability, incentive for operations and maintenance of assets. PAAB will invest in new infrastructure, where needed. Essentially, PAAB, although a government-owned company will operate like any private firm. This rationalisation of assets is a complex process, made more complicated by the fact that some states are under different political parties, and others like Johor and Selangor have long-term concessions in the water services industry that must be negotiated. By 2013, six states—Johor, Melaka, Perak, Penang, Perlis and Negeri Sembilan—had completed the migration to the new model with the assets transferred to PAAB. Among the other states, Selangor’s situation is the most fragmented with four concession-based private operators, and a state government with a different political philosophy from the federal government. Excerpt from the book “Good Practices in Urban Water Management: Decoding Good Practices for a Successful Future” by Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. Edited by AnandChiplunkar, Kallidaikurichi Seetharam & Cheon Kheong Tan. The article was first published by Asian Development Bank in July 2012 and subsequently by Asian Water in their March/April 2013 Issue under the heading “Kuala Lumpur’s Experiments with Water”. 24 WaterMalaysia
Special Interviews Our work is dirty, difficult and dangerous, says Malaysia sewerage chief Datuk Ir Abdul Kadir Mohammad Din, CEO of Indah Water Konsortium (IWK), Malaysia’s national sewerage agency discusses the challenges of treating wastewater, managing sludge, reducing energy footprints and communicating with people who just flush and forget. Q : Could you give us your thoughts about managing wastewater systems at national versus local levels? It is nearly 20 years since IWK has been centrally managing wastewater services. AKM : It is a fact that sewerage is a low priority matter compared to other utilities, thus it is best it remains at a national level where the country’s best interests are paramount. We have seen that in areas where sewerage management is not under IWK the services can be further relegated down the priority list. In my opinion, sewerage development can be holistically implemented only when it is managed at the national level. This provides adequate opportunities for the industry players to be involved in various levels towards the sustainability and contributing to economic growth whilst taking care of the environment and community wellbeing. We have received many accolades at the national level; the entire landscape of sewerage development and management has changed for the better; more regional plants have been developed that are able to treat sewage effectively for enhanced environmental quality; sewage sludge is handled and managed well; we have embarked on standardising the design, development, O&M of sewerage infrastructure throughout the country for which standards, guidelines, and specifications were introduced; we have managed to develop a trained workforce which has the skill to operate and maintain sewerage systems in any part of the country. Additionally, we are able to roll out continuous improvement plans such as R&D and innovations at the national level. We have also initiated capacity building programmes in Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Philippines. These were conducted through USAID-supported partnership twinning programme to help improve their sewerage management. Our work has been recognised by the international media. We have been visited by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Water Sanitation Africa, and officials from Bhutan, India and Oman seeking to learn from us. We OPERATOR Datuk Ir Abdul Kadir Mohammad Din IWK TOTAL OPERATIONAL AREA AND POPULATION SERVED IWK 98,642 74.45 19,821,353 59% 13,496,269 41% NON-IWK TOTAL AREA (Sq. Km) 33,857 25.55 - - 132,499 100.00 * Data as of December 2012 * Exclusive of 2.96 million population utilizing primitive (pour flush) systems. % have a vision to create a water hub here in Malaysia to facilitate knowledge transfer and our tagline is “Learn from the Best”. POPULATION EQUIVALENT (PE) SERVED BY IWK NOT SERVED BY IWK 2,332,833 19,821,353 56% 15,829,102 100% 44% • Operations only cover 87 of 146 local authorities in Malaysia. • The entire states of Kelantan, Sabah, Sarawak, Johor Bahru & Pasir Gudang not taken over although provided in Concession Agreement. • Regional development authority areas such as KETENGAH & KEJORA are excluded. WaterMalaysia 25
Page 1: The Malaysian Water Association Qua
Page 4 and 5: President’s Desk Dear Readers, Th
Page 6 and 7: Featured Article Klang River near P
Page 8 and 9: Featured Article groundwater-qualit
Page 10 and 11: Featured Article Table 1: Raw data
Page 12 and 13: MWA Activities 25th Annual General
Page 14 and 15: MWA Activities Water Malaysia 2013
Page 16 and 17: MWA Activities Memorandum of Unders
Page 18 and 19: Educational & Training Training for
Page 20 and 21: Educational & Training Datuk Loo pr
Page 22 and 23: Country Focus plan to SPAN that sho
Page 24 and 25: Country Focus age and River Managem
Page 28 and 29: Special Interviews Q: Is it prefera
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Page 32 and 33: Special Interviews JB: This really
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Page 36 and 37: News from Around the World US Energ
Page 38 and 39: News from Around the World Suez win
Page 40 and 41: Listing of New MWA Members MWA NEW
Page 42: ORDER FORM Advertisement in MWA Qua

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