JOHOR MPs today welcomed Prime Pinister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s plan to increase tenfold the price of raw water for Singapore, saying the review is long overdue.

Pakatan Harapan’s Johor Bahru MP Akmal Nasir said it was reasonable to reopen negotiations as the deal had not been reviewed for quite some time.

“I think it’s a good way to start negotiations, you start (with) your target but if you can get at least half of it, or even double the price, it is actually very good,” he said.

“It will allow us to negotiate in terms of how high the quantum of the price hike.

“This is something Barisan Nasional has failed to do despite some efforts to increase the tariff, but for whatever reason, our country has never been able to get a concrete deal in terms of raising the price,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

In an interview with the Associated Press recently, Dr Mahathir said the price hike would reflect the rate of the increase in the cost of living from when the agreement was inked in 1961.

Singapore pays 3 sen per 1,000 gallons of raw water and sells treated water back to Johor at 50 sen per 1,000 gallons, a price that the republic says does not cover its costs of treating the water.

In his interview, Dr Mahathir described Johor’s supply of raw water to Malacca at 30 sen per 1,000 gallons as “charitable”, but that was because the deal was between fellow Malaysian states.

“(From) a foreign country, we need to get more than that,” he was quoted as saying.

The current water agreement, which expires in 2061, sees Singapore drawing up to 250 million gallons a day (mgd) of raw water from Sungai Johor, and Johor entitled to 5mgd of treated water from Singapore.

Pulai MP Salahuddin Ayub, who is the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, said there was nothing wrong in reviewing the price of the raw water.

“As a new government, it’s not wrong for us to review the tariff,” he said.

Pontian MP Ahmad Maslan said if the government went ahead with the plan, it must do so through proper channels to preserve the relationship between the two countries.

“It must be done diplomatically, but I hope his plan to negotiate for a better price will be successful and if we can get a better price, it will benefit the people of Johor.

“Singapore is holding on to the agreement but for Malaysia, our reason is because the price is too cheap.

“We must find a win-win situation for both countries,” he said.

Parit Sulong MP Noraini Ahmad also backed the plan for a price review.

“Johor should earn more than what it is getting now, especially from a foreign country,” she said, but cautioned that the price issue “must be resolved diplomatically”.

Singapore has responded to Dr Mahathir’s earlier suggestions of a price review by saying Malaysia lost its right to renegotiate terms when it failed to do so in 1987. – August 15, 2018.