GEORGE TOWN – Water Watch Penang (WWP), an NGO focused on water conservation and management, has expressed confidence that the setting up of the Muda River Basin Authority (MRBA), proposed by the Environment and Water Ministry, will resolve the dispute over the river’s water use between Kedah and Penang.
Its president Prof Chan Ngai Weng said WWP supports the authority, whose formation was proposed by WWP in a press statement issued on March 26 and carried by The Vibes.
“WWP acknowledges that although water (including water resources management) is under the jurisdiction of the state government, jurisdiction should be transferred to the federal government or an independent body if and when water resources are shared between two or more states,” he said.
“Such is the case of the Muda river basin, in which the river and its catchment originate in Kedah, but subsequently flows into Penang, rendering neither state having ‘total’ jurisdiction over the river and its resources,” he said in a statement today.
Chan said that in cases where a river basin is shared by two states, the federal government must assume the mediator’s role to negotiate and settle inter-basin management issues.
In fact, he said, the country’s federal constitution allows for the federal government to mediate in cases like this where the river is no longer under the “state list” and is instead under the “concurrent list”.
“In this regard, the establishment of MRBA should consist not only of representatives from the federal government and the two states, but also of respected federal NGOs and NGOs from the two states.
“In this case, as a water NGO that deals with water problems in the country, WWP will be happy to contribute its expertise and resources if invited to join MRBA,” he said.
He said WWP has among its members not only water experts with doctorates, but also experts and professionals with doctorates in geography, water history, chemistry, biology, climate change, hydrology, geographic information systems, and remote sensing (using satellites to monitor water resources).
Once MRBA is established, Chan said, WWP expects that all disputes between the two states will disappear and be replaced with cooperation, joint problem-solving, shared resources sharing and mutual benefits.
He also expressed hope that logging in the Ulu Muda forest – the main water catchment for the three northern peninsular states of Kedah, Perlis and Penang – would be controlled under MRBA.
He said the forest should be protected and its water resource sustainability is addressed.
Earlier today, the ministry’s secretary-general Datuk Seri Zaini Ujang was reported to have said that the dispute between Kedah and Penang in Sg Muda is expected to be resolved with the setting up of MRBA.
MRBA, Zaini said, would act as the body given all the rights and powers to manage Sg Muda and its catchment area.
Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has demanded Penang to pay compensation for use of water from Sg Muda, although Penang only extracts the water from its own side of the river.
After the Penang government reasoned that it has a “riparian” right as observed under international law over the use of water from within its own borders, Sanusi announced a plan to build several giant tanks along the river.
The move would effectively block much of the river flow, threatening Penang with only “muddy water”, as Sanusi put it. – The Vibes, April 30, 2021
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