Charles Santiago Is New Span Chairperson

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Klang MP Charles Santiago has been appointed as the new National Water Service Commission (Span) chairperson with immediate effect
Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar, who announced the news in Parliament today, said the appointment would be for a two-year period until Oct 31, 2020
"The previous chairperson resigned after the 14th general elections
"So with powers invested to the minister through the ministry, I would hereby like to appoint YB Charles Anthony Santiago as the new Span chairperson," said Xavier during a joint press conference with Charles
With Charles' appointment, Xavier said there were two more vacancies that needed to be filled, and that the ministry was still in the process of going through several names
"But meanwhile I think the current working committee of Span can run with the appointment of the chairperson," he said
As for the current committee members, Xavier noted there were still a group of political appointees left over from the previous BN government
"This group should be brave enough to step down, because with the Pakatan Harapan government, we have decided we would like to replace most of the political appointments made during the BN government," he said. Xavier also said Charles' appointment was timely, as the ministry was currently undertaking a nationwide exercise to consolidate the water industry
In accepting the appointment, Charles cited his personal experience being involved in drafting the Water Services Industry Act 2006, even prior to his election as MP in the 2008 general election."So I'm quite familiar with the water industry and I'm also quite familiar with some of the players
"I look forward to bringing about some changes," said Charles, adding that the next two years would be challenging. - Mkini

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