No renegotiation of raw water rates with S’pore for now, says ministry

KUALA LUMPUR: Johor and Putrajaya have decided against renegotiating the rates for raw water supplied to Singapore for the time being, says the energy transition and water transformation ministry.

Deputy minister Akmal Nasrullah Nasir informed the Dewan Rakyat of this today, in response to a question from Hassan Karim (PH-Pasir Gudang).

“Following discussions in October 2024 with the Johor menteri besar (Onn Hafiz Ghazi) and the ministry, it was decided that the review of raw water rates does not need to be negotiated at this time,” he said.

Hassan had asked if the government intended to approach Singapore to revisit the terms of the Johor River Agreement 1962.

Singapore currently buys raw water from Johor at a price of three sen per 1,000 gallons. The republic also sells back treated water to Johor for 50 sen per 1,000 gallons.

In 2018, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad described the pricing as “ridiculous” and called for a renegotiation of the agreement.

Last year, then natural resources, environment and climate change minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said the government intended to review the agreement due to “certain issues”.

Akmal said Johor’s current reliance on Singapore for an average of 16 million gallons of treated water daily – far above the stipulated five million gallons – cost the state government approximately RM180,000 annually.

To address this dependency, he said Johor had embarked on the Zero Dependency initiative, aimed at achieving water self-sufficiency by 2030.

Key projects under this initiative include constructing water treatment plants such as the Layang 2 and Semanggar 3 plants, and infrastructure improvements along rivers like Sungai Johor and Sungai Sedili Besar, he added.

However, Akaml said that achieving full water independence by 2030 might be challenging due to the rapid growth of industrial sectors such as data centres and semiconductors in Johor.

“Therefore, treated water supply from Singapore remains necessary to meet Johor’s water needs.”

Responding to Hassan’s supplementary question about Singapore’s management of water treatment facilities in Johor, Akmal said only the Tai Hong plant near Kota Tinggi is still operated by Singapore’s Public Utilities Board.