Keputusan menaikkan tarif air adalah muktamad - begitulah kata MB baru Khir Toyo kepada Bernama. Inilah juga MB yang menyerahkan Putrajaya untuk dijadikan wilayah persekutuan. Seperti yang diduga Mahathir mempertahankan kenaikkan air itu juga.

Minyak petrol sudah, air pun sudah. Selepas ini apa yang akan naik agaknya? Saya meramalkan tarif elektrik dan telifon dikaji semula...... Tambang bas sudah pun naik dan tambang LRT pun bakal naik juga kerana elektrik itu adalah nyawa sistemnya.

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/general/ge2402_30.htm

Febuary 24 , 2001 23:25PM

DECISION ON WATER TARIFF HIKE FINAL - KHIR

BERANANG, Feb 24 (Bernama) -- The decision to increase water tariff between 20 and 75 percent in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya is final, said Menteri Besar Datuk Dr Mohamed Khir Toyo. The state government would not budge from its decision to increase the tariff despite receiving objections from various parties, he said when asked to comment on the call by industrial and commercial operators for the hike to be reviewed.

For these two sectors, the new tariff for the first 35 cubic metres of water is RM1.80 a cubic metre, which represents a 50 percent increase from the previous rate of RM1.20 a cubic metre. As for the subsequent 35 cubic metres of water, the new tariff is 60 percent more than the previous rate.

-- BERNAMA

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/breakingnews/0,1877,,00.html?

25 February 01:40PM -- Singapore Time

Mahathir defends water price hike

KUALA LUMPUR -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad defended the government's decision to raise water prices in the Kuala Lumpur region by 20 per cent to 75 per cent, a news report said on Sunday.

'The increase in water tariffs was unavoidable,' Dr Mahathir was quoted as having said by The Sun newspaper. 'We've postponed the increase so many times.'

The price hike, scheduled to be implemented in two weeks, will affect users in Kuala Lumpur, the South-east Asian nation's largest city, the neighbouring state of Selangor and the administrative capital of Putrajaya. It will be the first such increase in a decade.

The authorities have said the increase is necessary to pay for rising water costs and improve storage and distribution projects, which were undertaken after an acute water shortage in Kuala Lumpur three years ago.

Residents in Kuala Lumpur fumed for months in 1998 as taps and swimming pools ran dry. Many were forced to queue with buckets to collect water from tanker trucks for home use.

Some opposition leaders claim that the planned increase in water rates is caused by the water authorities' inefficiency and their failure to carry out proper water conservation campaigns.

Mr Lim Kit Siang, national chairman of the opposition Democratic Action Party, on Sunday called the increase 'unjustifiable' and urged the Cabinet to freeze its implementation. -- AP

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/general/ge2502_2.htm

Febuary 25 , 2001 16:13PM

Price monitoring to check profiteering to continue

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 (Bernama) -- There will be no let up in price monitoring nation-wide to check profiteering especially following recent announcement of proposed increase in water tariffs.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Tan Sri Muhiyiddin Yassin said data relating to the prices was being compiled weekly for a monthly report to be submitted to the Cabinet.

"We are monitoring the situation at more than 100 centres nation-wide covering all districts including big and small towns to appraise the price trends," he told reporters after flagging off the Hong Leong Foundation charity run at Dataran Merdeka here on Sunday.

Muhyiddin said the proposed water tariff hike could influence

-- BERNAMA