Air di Kuala Lumpur dah la kotor nak bawa air masuk pun ada problem apa da

City's major raw water project

The raw water treatment project is a massive undertaking: a pipeline is to be constructed run from Sungai Semantan in Pahang to the Hulu Langat water treatment facility in Selangor, it will be 44.6 kilometers long, the longest tunnel of its kind in Asia and the sixth largest in the world. When operating at maximum capacity, over 1,800 litres of raw water will be pumped to Selangor and treated for conversion to fresh water, according to Kuala Lumpur news media.

The cost is estimated at $2.8 billion with the national government issuing in 2007 an international tender for companies interested in the project. In the end, the tender was awarded to several international and local companies for the construction of different aspects of the project, mainly the Shimizu Corporation and Nishimatsu Construction, both from Japan, and local companies IJM Corp and UEM Builders Bhd.

The Shimizu Corporation and Nishimatsu Construction will be jointly involved in developing the raw water supply facilities – the mammoth tunnel that will also need to bore through the Titiwangsa mountain range.

The project has been divided into two general parts, the first involves the construction of the dual water pipelines, a tunnel for the pipelines, a water intake point, a dam to store water and a pump station to move the water along the 44.6 kilometer route.

The second part of the project will be taken up with the construction of the massive water treatment plant. This is expected to account for the largest part of the several billion dollar capital outlay.

The project, government insists, is essential to the long-term development of the country.

“The demand for treated water is expected to increase 4.3% yearly and will reach a higher rate in 2015,” Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui told Kuala Lumpur news media at the groundbreaking ceremony.

In addition, it has been reported that the water treatment project, upon completion, will earn the government around $20 to $30 million annually at a rate per cubic metre of water treated that will be reviewed every five years.

There has been some controversy around its construction, however.

There has been criticism from some corners of the cost of the project, $2.8 billion, more than RM10 billion, is a huge amount of public financing that could have been spent on the redevelopment of hundreds of schools in Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas, or the provision of badly needed equipment in public hospitals.

There has also been criticism of that part of the project which will see the Felda Lembah Klau estate, the Sungai Temir reserve and other surrounding areas flooded with water for the containment dam. This is expected to severely impact local indigenous communities that inhabit these areas, they will be displaced within their own country. Although the government has reported that compensation funds have been set aside and plans have been made for their relocation, many remain skeptical as exact compensation figures have been hard to come by