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KUALA LUMPUR — Four million residents in the Klang Valley will be without water for five days starting on Monday (Dec 19) due to repairs at an electrical substation, leading many of them to question whether the works could be postponed until after the holiday season.
Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), Malaysia’s national utility firm said the repair works cannot be postponed without risking a much longer outage.
Mr Abdul Hafiz Abu Bakar, the president of the residents’ association for Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) area near Kuala Lumpur, told The Star Online that a five-day water disruption is a little drastic, especially during the festive season. “At least wait until the festive season is over,” he said.
An online petition has also been started by some TTDI residents calling for a postponement in the water disruption, with close to 800 people signing the petition over the weekend.
Laundry shop owner Faiz Rahman said his business would be among those badly affected. “We do laundry and 90 per cent of our operations need water supply. We obviously have to shut down when there is water disruption,” Mr Faiz said.
“We were not even informed of this disruption. I only read it briefly on one of the local dailies but there was no mention of the areas affected. In times like these, the government needs to address the problem.”
The Malaysian Chinese Association, a component party of ruling Barisan Nasional, on Sunday urged the Selangor government to postpone the scheduled water cuts and said the state government should be compassionate to the needs of the people.
“Households are affected as they prepare to clean their homes and cook dishes and desserts in preparation for Christmas family reunions and gatherings. Why pick the week before Christmas to disrupt water supply?” its youth chief Chong Sin Woon said.
Seputeh opposition lawmaker Teresa Kok stated on Sunday it was unbelievable that the repairs could not be delayed until after the festive period.
Ms Kok said in a statement that “it is most inconsiderate, unprofessional and unacceptable for TNB to have scheduled the maintenance work that will cause such widespread water disruption during pre-Christmas season”.
Responding to allegations of being insensitive over the timing for the repairs, TNB said the situation at its facility in Bukit Badong, Hulu Selangor was deteriorating to the point where any delay may result in longer term disruptions to power.
“Physical inspections including thermal scanning on Dec 15 detected two hotspots that need immediate action to prevent major damage to the equipment at the main entry substation,” TNB’s corporate communications officer Mohd Aminuddin Mohd Amin said.
“If the scheduled works are delayed again, a flashover could occur at any point and repairs would then take as long as three weeks,” he said, contrasting this to the up to 16 hours of scheduled disruptions on Monday.
Mr Aminuddin added that if no repairs are done quickly, it will have a major impact on three water treatment plants along Sungai Selangor.
Meanwhile, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd — the Selangor state water supply company — said water will be distributed gradually to the areas affected, namely: Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Gombak, Kuala Langat, Hulu Selangor, Kuala Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. AGENCIES