TOKEN OF APPRECIATION: Alice (second right) presents a souvenir to Entri while Ubaidillah (left) and Abu Seman look on.
SIBU: The state government is looking at ways and means to reduce the water loss from the current 31 per cent to 25 in three years’ time.
Speaking to reporters after the opening ceremony of Sarawak Water Supply Retreat 2012 at Kingwood Hotel here yesterday, Assistant Minister of Public Utilities (Water Supply) Datuk Sylvester Entri said the average non-revenue water (NRW) in the state was about 31 per cent.
“Compared to the national average of about 36 per cent, we are better. But, the state government has set the target that by 2015 our NRW should be about 25 per cent,” he said.
He hoped the retreat would enable them to look at all ways and means to reduce the state’s NRW.
He said holistic approach should be taken such as reducing pipe leaking, solving pressure issues and so forth.
In his speech at the retreat earlier, Entri said his ministry would pursue the NRW reduction and water conservation as one of key strategies and at the same time increase the production capacity and expand the
networks to meet increasing demand.
He said the current practice of addressing NRW in Malaysia had been done mostly on ad hoc basis instead of a more holistic approach, which involved technical, managerial and operational solutions.
He said water authorities such as Public Works Department and water boards had contingency plan to ensure that the people would not face serious water problems.
He urged the people to utilise water wisely through minimising wastage.
He also urged the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism to monitor the price of mineral water and drinking water in the market.
“The demand is very high. There is a possibility that the vendors would hike the price,” he said.
Meanwhile, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Public Utilities Ubaidillah Abdul Latip said 477water supply projects built at a cost of about RM1.7 billion under the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) would be completed next year.
Also present at the function were a political secretary to the Chief Minister Abu Seman Jahwie and the retreat organising chairperson Alice Jawan Empaling.