Wong, who raised the issue at the Ministerial Question Time (MQT) in the Dewan Rakyat today, said the Selangor government needed to take full control of the water assets so that it can revamp the system in a bid to resolve the ongoing water crisis in the Klang Valley.
He also criticised Maximus for claiming in the House today that the delay was due to the Selangor government’s failure to make a “willing buyer, willing seller” offer for the assets.
Wong said Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali had already responded that it was Putrajaya which had hired auditing firm Deloitte to carry out a valuation of Splash, but the federal government has since refused to disclose the valuation amount determined by Deloitte.
“So, how then can the Selangor government make an offer, because the bulk of the financing will be from the federal government.
“My view of this is simple. The deal can only be closed if the federal government finances the deal as a loan to the state government,” Wong said in a posting on his Facebook account.
This, he said, was the standard model for all water asset takeovers in Malaysia.
Wong who is the Kelana Jaya MP claimed Putrajaya could not do this as it was facing a “cash crunch” and that it could not even pay for the first “1MDB instalment”.
He was referring to 1MDB’s failure to make a payment due on July 31 to Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) as part of a settlement dispute.
The state-owned 1MDB attributed the delay to not getting the necessary funds from proceeds of its rationalisation plan.
“That being the case, the minister is just buying time, coming out with excuses and blaming others,” Wong said.
“In the meantime, the people of Selangor will continue to suffer water cuts, thanks to the fiscally unsound federal government.”
In March, it was reported that Selangor’s planned acquisition of Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash) had been delayed further.
At the time, Azmin said this was due to the energy, green technology and water ministry’s request to extend the restructuring of Selangor’s water supply industry for another six months.
Before that, an extension was ordered in October 2016 to facilitate the appointment of an independent valuer.
Under Selangor’s water restructuring exercise, the state government has already taken over water assets previously belonging to Puncak Niaga, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) and Konsortium Abbas worth over RM6 billion.
Only water assets belonging to Splash have yet to be taken over by the Selangor government.
In 2014, the Selangor government and Putrajaya signed a memorandum of understanding which would see the state take over the four water concessionaires operating in the state.