ALOR SETAR: Penang may be extracting water from its side of the border along Sungai Muda but Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor argues that the source of the river is from the Ulu Muda catchment area in his state.
As such, he said Kedah should not be sacrificing its vast forest areas merely to be made as a water catchment area for Penang to profit from.
Sanusi said it was time for a review of the Kedah and Penang (Alteration of Boundary) Act 1985 as the need for water supply and development, as well as sustainability, to preserve water resources had increased.
“The (1985) agreement reached is to ‘ensure water supply from Ulu Muda located in the state of Kedah’ and the guarantee only means to ensure water supply.
“The Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) and the Penang government were the ones who should pay water extraction charges for Kedah raw water sources so that the benefits can be shared mutually by the people in both states,” he said in a statement today.
Sanusi said PBAPP extracts 80% of its water resources from Sungai Muda every day. This comes up to 1.1 million litres per day (mld).
“Lembaga Sumber Air Negeri Kedah charges Syarikat Air Darul Aman for every cubic metre extracted (800 mld) for the purpose of supplying treated water in the state.
“The same charges, by right, should be imposed on PBAPP, which extracts water from Sungai Muda, even though the extraction is done on the Penang border,” he said.
He said the 163,000ha water catchment area needed to be sustained. This includes disallowing economic activities that may adversely affect its geographical features and functions to ensure adequate water supply for some 4.06 million people in Kedah, Perlis and Penang.
The menteri besar said when there are costs for the maintenance of these resources, it is only right that they are also borne by Penang by virtue of being a beneficiary.
“You have to also factor in how the opportunity cost involved in the preservation of the Ulu Muda catchment area has been increasing,” he said.
Both states are now embroiled in an issue over raw water, with the Kedah government claiming that Penang had never responded to its demands for RM50 million annually for raw water drawn from its (Penang) side of Sungai Muda, which flows from the Ulu Muda catchment area in Kedah.