KUALA LUMPUR (April 7): The Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (Kettha) said the Selangor state water restructuring is nearing a closure and is committed to resolving any issues within the year.

"There are still much to be done with regards to the on-going water restructuring, perhaps the most difficult one as I mentioned earlier, has been the Selangor water case, but we are now on the last lap, and Kettha remains focused on solving it by 2016," Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili said in his speech, during the official opening of AsiaWater 2016.

"In fact, I had a very long discussion with Selangor Mentri Besar yesterday and we believe solutions would be found soon," he revealed.

At the sideline of the event, Ongkili was asked if the federal government will be providing additional financial assistance to Selangor state government for the acquisition of Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash), the last holdout from the state’s water asset consolidation exercise, he said both parties have not finalised on any decision yet.

"We are still discussing it, but there is no decision yet," he said.

Meanwhile, Ongkili also commented on the non-revenue water (NRW), saying that "affirmative actions are needed to urgently solve the decade-old water loss issue".

"First of all, we need to deal with the existing operators to change the connectors, especially those that can be fixed immediately," he said, but declined to disclose the amount to be invested in this programme.

"I must confess that we have not made good progress in this area, as we are still struggling to lower the 35% level (of NRW)," he said.

Ongkili revealed that five states recorded 40% to 50% of NRW level currently, while only three states have achieved below 30%.

"The current scenario seems to suggest that existing methods and approaches to tackling water loss, are not effective," he said.

"High water loss goes to show the inability of water operators to operate efficiently, the poor state of asset management, unhealthy financial standing, etc," he added.

Therefore, Ongkili said he will put up more effort to convince water operators to migrate under the Water Services Industry Act 2006 (Wasia).

"Those operators that have migrated to Wasia will be assisted by PAAB (Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd), because whatever investment they have in NRW, PAAB will adjust the cost with the tariffs, to the cost that they are leasing the water assets," he explained.