KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor says it has yet to decide whether to grant the federal government access to land where some 26,000km of pipes belonging to the state’s water concessionaires are installed, contrary to what Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili claimed earlier yesterday.

Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali told reporters in Parliament yesterday that the state government has just begun negotiations with the federal government again after the master water agreement between the federal government and Selangor, which was twice extended, lapsed. 

The deal tanked when Selangor decided not to give the federal government a third extension.

“That (access to the land) is still under discussion. It is only fair for us to go through it (the discussion). As long as we stick to the CPs (conditions precedent) and terms of the master agreement, which doesn’t say [anything] about the land, then we can conclude the master agreement,” said Mohamed Azmin.

“We have to complete the CPs on both sides and the CPs do not say we have to surrender the land. But if you [the federal government] change the syarat (terms), you will prolong the process,” said Mohamed Azmin.

He affirmed that there was a meeting between Selangor and federal government officials on the water deal on Monday and that it was attended by the state secretary and the ministry’s secretary-general.

Mohamed Azmin’s statement yesterday afternoon negated Ongkili’s claim earlier on the same day that the federal government had been granted access to the land by Selangor. 

Meanwhile, Mohamed Azmin said when the state government decided not to grant another extension on the agreement, the minister had sent him a letter indicating that the federal government was committed to honouring the master water agreement. “I’m committed to resolving this issue. When the federal government also [indicated it] has the [same] commitment, we began the negotiations,” he said.

He said he would meet Ongkili in a few weeks, but added that there was no timeline yet as to when discussions on the issue would be completed.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 26, 2015.