17 Jan 2019

News release by MCA Penang State Liaison Committee Vice Chairman cum MCA Bagan Division Chairman Dr Tan Chuan Hong

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Say NO to water tariff hike
MCA Penang State Liaison Committee Vice Chairman cum MCA Bagan Division Chairman Dr Tan Chuan Hong emphasised that there should not be any water tariff hike.
He argued on this issue based on the facts as follows:
1. According to the international agency, Fitch Ratings predicted that Malaysia's economic growth will be slowing down, in which a 4.2% growth is predicted as compared to 4.6% last year. This shows that our economy is not as good as last year and any rate hike in utilities will burden the people.
2. The PH government approved the commercial electric tariff hike in July last year and another approval for a rate adjustment in this coming March 2019. As a result, entrepreneurs need to pay an ICPT surcharge of 1.35 sen per 1KW last July to 2.55 sen per 1 KW in this coming March, a shocking hike of 88.9% and this will cause prices of goods to hike.
3. The PH government also approved the household natural gas price hike recently. The price rose from RM31.92/ MMBtu to RM 32.69/ MMBtu, reflecting a 2.4% hike in price and thus the purchasing power of households will be reduced.
4. During the election campaign last year, PH promised to give a certain amount of free water to the people in Selangor and Johor but the move to increase the price recently reflects a breach of PH's promise.
5. The Penang government is seeking an approval from the federal government to increase the water tariff by more than 20%.  If this is approved, it will be a nightmare for the Penang rakyat.
With all the facts above, Dr Tan urged the PH government to maintain the price of water and put more efforts in stimulating economy growth and find ways to raise the rakyat’s standard of living.
Dr Tan Chuan Hong
MCA Penang State Liaison Committee Vice Chairman
MCA Bagan Division Chairman

-MCA online