PAS needs to stop blaming politics and the federal government for the water issues that have plagued Kelantan for the last 30 years, Save Kelantan chairman Husam Musa said.

The former PAS vice-president said Kelantan began having water problems when the state government fully privatised its supply to Kelantan Water Sdn Bhd.

He said the privatisation had cost the state government RM100 million a year.

Husam said the high cost had prompted former menteri besar Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat to order for the company to be returned to the state government and change its status to a corporation.

“Kelantan’s water supply was frozen by the federal government in the 1990s because the Kelantan government privatised the water supply to Kelantan Water under a foreign company in London, Thames Water PLC.

“It was originally thought that the company would build the water infrastructure.

“But many do not know that in the first year Thames Water sent a bill claiming RM100 million a year from the state government,” Husam told The Malaysian Insight.

Previously, Kelantan Deputy Chief Minister Mohd Amar Abdullah had blamed Umno for being the cause of the water supply problems in Kelantan.

He said Umno had cancelled a RM600 million Kelantan water supply project in 1990 after the party’s defeat in Kelantan.

Amar had said tha the state government had not received the RM600 allocation from then finance minister Daim Zainuddin.

Husam said he himself was among those involved in PAS’ efforts to regain ownership of Kelantan Water.

He said Nik Aziz had met twice then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in 1999 and 2000, to ask the federal government to approve a grant of RM600 million.

But the federal government could not do so because Kelantan Water was owned by a foreign entity, he said.

Husam, who is also the Kota Baru Kelantan Trust head, said the state government managed to get Kelantan Water back from Thames Water in 2001. The company became Air Kelantan Sdn Bhd (AKSB) under the Kelantan Menteri Besar Corporation (PMBK).

He added that in the same year, Daim had personally handed him a cheque of RM600 million for the menteri besar to develop water infrastructure in Kelantan.

“I was not in the government, and I happened to be in Parliament. At that time I was the Kubang Kerian MP, and Nik Aziz asked me to write a letter to thank Daim.

“He (Daim) said that previously we couldn’t get the grants because of other issues and not because the government was trying to bully them.”

Husam said Amar also knew about this because he was a board member of Yayasan Kelantan Darulnaim at the time.

The foundation owned 30% of Kelantan Water.

Husam blamed the London-based company’s unreasonable expenses for the losses suffered by the state government.

“Amar was on the board and when we did an internal audit on their claims, we found that they had been approved by the Kelantan Water Board.

“Their foreign manager had gone to Thailand for a weekend holiday, and this was billed as expenses.

“This matter is rarely mentioned but I have to remind them so that they are aware and do not run away from the facts.”

He added that Amar’s claim that Kelantan did not receive the funds after agreeing to restructure its water sector was also false.

He said the federak government had taken over more than RM700 million of Air Kelantan Sdn Bhd’s debts following the agreement.

“Under the migration concept of Pengurusan Air Aset Sdn Bhd, it had to build a dam and water treatment plant to be handed over to AKSB.

“The federal government has never said that it would break the 2016 migration agreement. It has been six years now.”

Husam said this proved that the water crisis in Kelantan was not because of a lack of money.

“When the water treatment plant was built, the supply couldn’t reach the people. That’s what happened in the Teluk village. After an injection of RM4.82 million, the plant should produce 32 million litres of water a day.  But today it can only get out 10 million litres of water a day.

“What we want to know is, why haven’t the people got water supply? This is what we want to investigate. The people of Kelantan should be given an explanation.” – May 24, 2022.