Bernama, Saturday - 22 November 2008

JASIN - The Melaka government has agreed to hand over all water assets and water supply facilities in the state to Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad (PAAB).

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said the agreement would be sealed early next month with PAAB.

"We have agreed to surrender all our assets by writing off our debt with the federal government. Our debt is about RM900 million and the assets we have worth over RM1 billion," he said.

He told reporters this after opening the meet-the-customer programme hosted by the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry at Dewan Alamanda here today. Present was Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor.

Ali said the asset takeover by PAAB would hopefully solve all future issues related to water supply including the construction of the Sungai Jernih dam in Alor Gajah.

He said that following the agreement, Syarikat Air Melaka Berhad would only manage water distribution to consumers.