Pahang assured of federal aid to manage its water

Putrajaya gives its assurance of aid for the Pahang government in the aspect of water management, Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said today.

Azmin said this is considering that a large section of Pahang formed an important water catchment area.

Maintaining dams requires substantial costs, he said, adding that the Pahang government had “limited” resources and could not develop water catchment areas.

"Water management remains with the state administration, but Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd (PAAB) will look at the need for water assets, which will certainly require a large sum for the upgrading.

"We will also assist in reducing non-revenue water (NRW), which has resulted in losses to the state government. 

"In Pahang, the rate of NRW is high at 46 percent, and to reduce it by just one percent would require hundreds of thousands of ringgit," he said.

Azmin said this at a press conference after handing over an RM3 million allocation to Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail (photo) to upgrade the Sultan Ahmad 1 Mosque in Kuantan today.

He said that among the measures required to reduce NRW was to replace old pipes to ensure that there were no leaks, besides implementing the agenda to check water theft, which required close cooperation between the federal and the state governments.

The commitment of the federal government in assisting the Pahang government in the water issue was also apparent through the announcement by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who previously approved RM653 million for three water projects in the state.

Apart from the water aspect, Azmin said an appropriate allocation of development funds was also given to Pahang to improve its infrastructure.

As an example, he pointed to the session on Engagement in Preparing the 12th Malaysia Plan, jointly chaired by him and Wan Rosdy, which saw Pahang receiving RM2.42 billion for the implementation of various projects under the Rolling Plan 4 2019, 11th Malaysia Plan.

- Bernama