Syabas given 14 days to stop 'Tabung Budi' project....

The Selangor government has given water concessionaire Syabas 14 days to stop its Tabung Budi fund collection programme or it will lose its licence to supply water. According to the office of the Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim today, Syabas had been notified and directed to inform the state government and advertise in all the main newspapers that it had stopped the Tabang Budi programme.

The notice, dated Nov 23 and issued by the director of the state's water regulatory body Nor Azmi Diron, also reminded Syabas that as a licensee it was authorised only to collect and keep overdue charges on water consumption from those households within its water distribution area. As such, Syabas cannot collect funds from the general public for the purpose of paying for overdue charges as it is now doing through Tabung Budi, the statement said further. The notice to Syabas was issued under Subsection 12(2) of the Water Supply Act 1997.

It follows a public spat between the state government and the concessionaire following the latter's announcement that it would collect funds from the public to allow consumers to waive their right to 20 cubic metres of free water worth RM11.40 monthly and return it to Syabas.

Khalid had said Syabas had no right to collect the money from water consumers who benefited from the state government subsidy. Those consumers wishing to donate the cost of water subsidy can return them to the state government, not Syabas, as it is state money meant for the people, said Khalid. Collecting the funds from the public would mean the concessionaire is seeking to be paid twice, he added. Syabas said the money would be used to reconnect the supply of those denied water for failing to settle their bills.

Meanwhile,Selangor Menteri Besar's political secretary, Faekah Husin expressed shocked over the scheme's intention to deduct RM11.40 from Syabas staff. “The question is, is the RM11.40 deduction the same for all Syabas staff? Does it differentiate between white collar and blue collar staff?

“Will a Syabas technician who earns RM2,000 a month be subjected to the same deduction as Syabas executive chairperson Rozali Ismail(left), who is paid RM425,000 a month or RM5.1 million a year?” she asked.

Faekah said that from the above examples, it was clear that Syabas' Tabung Budi was not a “sincere” effort to help the needy.

“It is very improper for Syabas to burden its workers when its chairperson receives such an extraordinary salary,” she said.

source:malaysiakini

Read 'Syabas denies coffers drying up' here.

Syabas dilesen hanya untuk mengutip dan menyimpan caj yang masih berhutang (caj tertunggak) oleh pengguna dalam kawasan pembekalan air.

Syabas tidak boleh mengutip sumbangan daripada orang ramai bagi tujuan membayar caj bekalan air tertunggak seperti yang dilakukannya melalui skim Tabung Budi.

Mungkin Syabas tak cukup duit nak bayaq gaji Pengarah Eksekutifnya, jadi terpaksa tubuh skim Tabung Budi?

cheers.