Govt May Help Finance Penang Water Pipe Upgrade

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Deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof said the government is ready to work with water supply companies to ensure systems are upgraded. (Bernama pic)KUCHING: The federal government is studying whether it can provide grants or loans to the Penang government for upgrading a main valve at a major water treatment plant, deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof said.
Water supply in Penang has been shut down since Jan 10 to enable work on the valve at the Sungai Dua treatment plant.
Fadillah, who is minister for energy transition and public utilities, said valve replacement and maintenance across the state need to be implemented to prevent further losses.
“As we know, many main pipes nationwide are damaged and when we upgrade the pumps for water supply and the like, old pipes burst easily.
Fadillah Yusof.“This is among the challenges faced by service providers in Penang and in other states. That is why our focus is on reducing non-revenue water,” he said here this evening.
He said his ministry will continue to monitor and co-operate with water services providers to ensure water supply systems could be upgraded.
The Penang Water Supply Corporation said this morning that stage two of water restoration had started at 6am today with pumping of treated water from the Sungai Dua plant at optimum level to the island.
The company hopes to restore supply to nearly 500,000 consumers by 6am tomorrow.
A total of 590,000 households and businesses throughout Penang have been affected by the four-day water cut from 6am on Wednesday.
However, at least 101 areas in Seberang Perai Utara and Seberang Perai Tengah are expected to get back their supply after 48 hours, while a further 157 areas on the island will have water restored after 72 hours. - FMT

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