Wednesday, March 04, 2009

SPAN Promises Performance Review for Water Firms

As reported by The Sun today, Water Services Commission (SPAN) CEO Datuk Teo Yen Hua promised that
...water concessionaires that have migrated to the licensing regime will have to adhere to the licensing requirement which will be reviewed every 3 years and any violation of the Water Services Industries Act 2006 (WSIA) will cost them the license.

... these companies will have to justify their earnings and if there is any violation, SPAN will recommend to the minister not to renew their license. This is for the protection of the consumers.
Sweet sounding words indeed! Are you confident now that your interests are protected? Can you believe him? Am I asking rhetorical questions?

It's now public knowledge that SYABAS has already breached many many terms of their concession agreement including:
...more than 72% of contracts worth a total of RM600 million were awarded to selected companies via direct negotiations and only 25% via competitive open tender, which clearly violates the agreement.

...the audit also found more than RM325 million in discrepancy between the summary of contracts awarded in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and Syabas’s review document (referring to general accounts).

...Syabas had breached the water privatisation concession by using imported pipes from Indonesia for its RM375 million pipe replacement project in the Klang Valley instead of sourcing them locally.

...questions are also being raised over the RM51.2 million spent to renovate the Syabas office when the Selangor Water Regulatory Department (JKAS) only approved RM23.2 million for this in 2005.
The Selangor Government itself has called for the concession agreements to be terminated based on the above breaches which were found by the National Audit Department since November last year.

Both SPAN and the Minister are dilly-dallying over the "breach", claiming that they needed the advice from the attorney-general's office which isn't forthcoming. Yah, right.

It certainly raises the question if we have a regulator who practices the concept of "pagar makan padi", who claims to protect the interest of consumers, but who in reality favours the exploitative concessionaires.

So I hope, Dato Teo, before you promise that tomorrow will be better, act on what's on your plate today. If you can't even take action on the breaches happening under your noses today, then how do you expect the rakyat to trust you on your promises for the future?

Please don't kid us, Dato. We are not as stupid as you think we are. Read also the editorial by Terence Fernandez in The Sun yesterday.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Promises are meant to be broken... We have been tricked plenty of times all in the name of promises. ENOUGH!!

Tell that Teo Yen Hua to suck it up!

Towards healthy and leisure life~! said...

Hard to believe...

Anonymous said...

Datuk Teo Yen Hua must make declaration with regards to any personal interest in any of the concessionaires!
Is Datuk Teo has any political link with party Gerakan or Tun LKYeik?
Should anybody challenge Tun LKYeik for declaration with regards to interest in concessionaires?

Anonymous said...

I only believe in God

Anonymous said...

Rukun negara hanya ada " Kepercayaan kepada Tuhan" tak ada "Kepercayaan Kepada Janji"..!

Orang buat business tak salah kalau nak cari Untung..Million..Billion macam Bill-Gates!Tapi orang bijak-pandai Nak Berkhidmat Kepada Negara dan Rakyat atas "Harta Negara Kurniaan Tuhan" Bukan "Harta Ciptaan Peribadi CEO" ,dah rebut penat-lelah berjaya berkuasa jadi CEO dapat GAJI BESAR-BESAR tambah BONUS setiap tahun ,sampai hati Peraturan-peraturan biasa dalam perjanjian..pun TAK DAPAT IKUT DENGAN IKHLAS DAN BENAR..masih cakap besar-besar di depan khalayak ramai NAK JANJI INI JANJI ITU..!

Budak-budak tak masuk sekolah pun dah pandai buat banyak janji ini janji itu..!Takkan Orang besar-besar macam CEO tak pandai janji..!Rekod-rekod macam ini masih tak cukup Buktikeh Janji-janjimu..!
Hanyalah Tuhan Tahu...!