Water issue: Kelantan's request exceeds its requirement – Nik Nazmi

PORT KLANG - The request of the Kelantan state government for a water capacity of almost 2,000 million litres per day (mlpd) is above the current need of the state which is about 500 (mlpd).

Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said this follows the request of the state government in seeking an allocation of RM8 billion to meet a demand capacity which is several times above the actual requirement of the state.

"As such, we need to review what is needed. At the same time, what is needed should be proportional to the construction of water treatment plants to overcome the problem of non-revenue water (NRW).

"Due to NRW, even if we build more water treatment plants, there will still be leakage of water which will not reach consumers,” he told the media when asked to comment on the request of Kelantan which wants RM8 billion in allocation to build five water treatment plants and reservoirs.

He made the comment after a briefing on the cooperation between Landasan Lumayan Sdn Bhd (LLSB) and Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) with the United Nations Global Compact Network Malaysia and Brunei, at Mangrove Point, here today.

At the same time, Nik Nazmi said his ministry remains committed to finding the best solution including the main project that needs to be implemented to completely solve the water problem in Sabah and Kelantan.

"Both state governments have communicated their requests on what is required. Meanwhile, the federal government has a legal framework that needs to be followed either at the federal level under the National Water Services Commission (Span) and at the Sabah level under the Sabah state government.

"But the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) emphasised that we have a responsibility as the central government to help Sabah as well," he said. - BERNAMA