Syabas warns company against cutting water supply
by Alyaa Alhadjri
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| Selangor EXCO (Housing, Building Management and Squtter) Iskandar Abdul Samad with SUHAKAM Commissioner Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah visit Taman Kinrara Puchong low cost apartment. |
KUALA LUMPUR (July 27, 2010):
Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) has warned that it will not hesitate to take legal action against a building management company if it persists in cutting water supply to low-cost flats in Taman Kinrara.
“Only Syabas has the authority to cut water supply to any premises, and only for non-payment of water charges,” said its senior manager, southern region, Kelvin Siew.
“Any party found guilty of disrupting water supply to any premises can be charged under Section 125 of the Water Services Industry Act 2006,” he said.
He was responding to complaints from residents of the flats against their building management, Puchong Teamwork Corporation Sdn Bhd.
Residents said PTC had since December last year disrupted their water supply by tampering with the Syabas meters and cutting the pipes for alleged arrears in payments.
They claimed that PTC officers had engaged in acts of gangsterism when they wanted to collect payment.
The company charges each household RM48 a month for maintenance fees, but residents claimed some of them had to pay the company thousands of ringgit in arrears, plus interest.
Syabas today visited the affected residents, together with representatives from the National Water Services Commission (SPAN), Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and Selangor executive councilor in charge of Housing, Building Management and Squatters, Iskandar Abdul Samad.
They were shown how several pipes connected to one water meter had been cut through.
“Previously, they also locked our water meters, and when we broke the lock, they tried other ways to cut our water supply,” said resident P. Rajendran.
Span head of enforcement Ashwar Aziz said a meeting will be called next week with representatives from PTC and the residents to find a solution to the problem.
Ashwar reminded PTC not to take action that is against the law.
“It does not matter if the residents have not paid their maintenance fees. PTC has no power to cut off the water supply,” he said.
Meanwhile, Iskandar said he would check with the Subang Jaya Municipal Council if similar complaints have been made against the company.
Updated: 08:05 pm
Tue, 27 Jul 2010
the Sun