THE Penang government today said the state will have enough water supply for the next 10 years.

Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) chairman Lim Guan Eng said the guarantee can be given with the completion of a third submarine pipeline project that will supply water from the mainland to the island.

With the third pipeline, he said, the island will get 708 million litres of water daily from the mainland.

Penang already has two water supply pipelines, completed in 1973 and 1996, that each channel 143 million litres and 250 million litres of water daily to the island.

The third submarine pipeline will supply another 315 million litres per day.

“With this triple guarantee, I dare say we will have enough water supply for the next 10 years,” said Lim, who is also chief minister.

“Come to Penang. You can take a bath without trouble. That is the difference in Penang, where we have no water rationing, even when other states have had to do it.

“In the past, many states had no water rationing. But in the last 10 years, so many states have had to implement water rationing.

“Selangor and Perak had no water rationing until now. Even Taiping, the wettest place in the country, had water rationing three years back.

“But Penang managed to escape that, the horror of no water. It is a proud achievement,” he told a press conference at Gat Lebuh Macallum.

The RM125 million twin submarine pipeline project by PBAPP is scheduled for completion by December 2020.

Its RM9.2 million Package 1 – comprising 0.9km of land pipelines in George Town’s Macallum area – has been completed, and was launched by Lim this morning.

The RM15.2 million Packages 2A and 2B, involving 0.8km of land pipelines in Butterworth, are pending approval from the Seberang Prai Municipal Council, Malaysian Highway Authority and Keretapi Tanah Melayu, before work can begin.

PBAPP is calling an open tender in May for the last phase – Package 3, which involves the laying of 3.2km of 1,200mm twin submarine pipelines from Butterworth to Macallum.

The project is set to benefit half a million residents and businesses, from the highly populated Green Lane area to the island’s southwest district.

Lim said he would not make “syok sendiri” (self-praising) statements about Penang’s water supply sufficiency without having the projects to show and deliver.

“Even with the population, tourism and investment growth, we are confident that we can meet the demand for water for the next decade.

“This will give confidence to investors and the people.”

He said Penang has the highest water reserve margin in the country at 34.1%, which has prevented the state from having to impose water rationing in the last 10 years.

He lauded PBAPP for being the most profitable water supply operator in Malaysia.

“This is despite Penang having the lowest water tariff, at 32 sen per 1,000 litres for the first 35,000 litres, and not imposing any rationing.

“This success is possible because of our CAT (competency, accountability, transparency) management.”

PBAPP chief executive officer Jaseni Maidinsa said it always plans 20 years ahead to ensure water supply sufficiency.

On the agency’s success, he said since PBAPP was set up in 1973, it has remained the only water supply operator in the country to have made a continuous profit.

Since its listing on Bursa Malaysia in 2002, he said, PBAPP has never failed to pay out dividends. – March 19, 2018.