02 March 2011

Water arrears dispute with Syabas resolved

News Date: Wed, 2011-03-02
By OTK Info Unit


KUALA LUPUR (March 1, 2011): The outstanding accumulated water bill arrears dispute of nine blocks of Taman Lembah Maju apartment residents with SYABAS have been resolved.
 
Pandan MP Dato’ Sri Ong Tee Keat announced at a Chinese New Year community rally dinner on Feb 16 that SYABAS executive chairman Tan Sri Rozali Ismail had agreed to a review of the arrears based on residential instead of commercial rates from Jan 1, 2008.

“The details of the arrears are to be ironed out in due course and there will be no water cuts as long as the current bills are remitted accordingly,” he said to the cheers of those present.

Shortly before Chinese New Year, the threat of water cut was again looming for the residents.
 
SYABAS, Selangor’s water concessionaire, had issued an ultimatum to all property owners to settle their arrears dating back to 2008 or water supply would be cut.

The residents approached Ong to help settle the dispute but they were skeptical that their MP would be able to resolve the impasse amid negative speculations that he would be dropped by the Barisan Nasional in the next general election.

Ong, however, hurriedly arranged with SYABAS for immediate negotiations for an amicable solution.

As early as 2005, the residents had been remitting their water bills at commercial rates unknowingly.
 
The Joint Management Board (JMB) comprising the residents grudgingly took over the arrears on Jan 1, 2008, but the unjust remittance at commercial rates was only discovered last July when Ong detected the error while scrutinising the residents’ complaints.

This was immediately addressed by SYABAS through Ong’s help and the rate was revised from RM2.28 per cubic metre (commercial rate) to RM 1.38 per cubic metre (residential rate) effective last July 2010.

However, the arrears remained unresolved as negotiations with SYABAS hit snag. This led to the pre-Chinese New Year water-cut threat in January.

Ong quickly spearheaded fresh negotiations with a proposed formula that was acceptable to SYABAS.

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