Kedah's forests not for Penang profit: Sanusi

ALOR SETAR – Kedah should not be sacrificing its vast forest areas solely for Penang to profit from them, said Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor today. 

The menteri besar said as such, 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.

Sanusi said PBAPP extracts 80% of its water resources from Sungai Muda, which comes up to 1.1 million litres per day (mld).

“Lembaga Sumber Air Negeri Kedah even charges Syarikat Air Darul Aman for every cubic meter 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 every cubic meter from Sungai Muda, even though the extraction is done on the Penang border," he said in a statement here today.

According to Sanusi, no one can deny that the source of Sungai Muda is from the Ulu Muda Catchment Area in Kedah.

He said the 163,000ha water catchment area requires sustainability, including no economic activities done capable of affecting its geographical features and functions, to ensure adequate water supply to some 4.06 million people in Kedah, Perlis and Penang.

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 has 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 guarantee water supply to Penang, not a guarantee of free raw water supply forever,” he said.

The menteri besar said when there are costs for the maintenance of resources, it is only right that they are also borne by Penang, by virtue of being a beneficiary.

“What more when factoring 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 the Penang side of Sungai Muda, which flows from the Ulu Muda catchment area in Kedah. – Bernama, December 13, 2020