SHAH ALAM: The Selangor government will mete out stern action against concession companies which are still dragging their feet over signing their agreements with the state government to restructure the state's water industry, according to a Bernama report.            
            Selangor Menteri Besar, Mohamed Azmin Ali was quoted as saying the state government would not be siding the concessionaires and would in fact deem their action as preventing consumers and the people from benefiting from the restructuring.
            "The Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister himself said that the concession companies have to sign their agreements with the state government within five weeks to implement the water industry restructuring and the deadline is expiring soon.
            "Therefore, the state government has to take a firm stand on the matter," he told reporters here on Sunday.  
            He was commenting on the status of the Selangor water industry restructuring exercise.
            When asked on its proposal to the federal government to make the content of the water industry restructuring agreement public, Azmin said the ministry had yet to reply to the state government's request.
            "I had sent the letter to the minister three weeks ago to request the federal government to make the agreement public.
            "The state government will be issuing an official statement tomorrow (Monday) when the period to sign the agreement between the state government and concession companies expires soon," he said in the Bernama report.
            On Oct 18, Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili said the content of the water industry agreement between the federal government and the Selangor state government could not be made public yet.   
            According to him, the decision was made after the ministry obtained the advice of the Attorney General's Chambers.