PM Anwar, during the presentation of the nation's budget for 2024 last Friday (Oct 13) themed "Madani Economy: Empowering The People" pledged that the water supply woes in Kelantan, Sabah and Labuan must come to an end.
He said that for Kelantan, the first phase of the Machang water treatment plant project will be implemented to increase water supply reserves with a capacity of 250 million liters a day.
Kelantan has always been beset with water-related problems and apparently, the situation has been getting worse down the years; often, unfairly, becoming the butt of jokes - with some branding its water “teh tarik” and others jokingly referring to it as "teh ais" and "milo!"
Meanwhile, the state administration under PAS has often argued that it may need at least RM7mil to RM8bil to fix the problem for good. But seriously, couldn't they have addressed the problem in stages, utilizing funds from their annual state budget - or was their priority elsewhere?
In fact, so critical is the problem that it is often a hot topic in the state assembly. Even the state leadership has admitted that it has always been a thorn in the side for decades.
Yet, oddly, it would seem that they do not consider it a failure of the state administration. The reason cited is that without funds from the federal government, they have not been able to address and resolve the issue.
Recently, economy minister Rafizi Ramli also touched on the matter saying that Kelantan's water woes do not require billions of ringgit to resolve; apparently, the state government wants to construct five (new) water treatment plants! But why so many?
According to him the state only needs an additional water treatment plant; currently, its daily demand for treated water stands at 600 million liters and with an additional plant the water production can be ramped up to at least 700 million liters a day.
To add to the intrigue, a few months ago another current affairs website had suggested whether politicians purposely neglected Kelantan's water issues to get more votes.
Apparently, many politicians, had in the past promised to fix the water problem, but unfortunately, for the Kelantanese people, it has always remained a piped dream!
Furthermore, according to the report, the topic often crops up during election time only to vanish into thin air after that; with even PAS head honcho Tuan Abdul Hadi Awang previously getting into the act and pledging to resolve the problem. But like the others who promised the stars and the "moon", nothing ever materialized.
Another prominent politician who in the past had promised to act was ex-PM Najib Razak who in 2013 had said that Kelantan's water woes would be a thing of the past should Barisan Nasional retake the state from PAS; his UMNO compatriot Mustapha Mohamed had also laid that out in the party's manifesto for GE14 in 2017.
In fact, in the run-up to the recent state elections in Kelantan, even BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (now PM Anwar's "close" coalition partner) had said he would address the water problem so that the Kelantanese people can be assured of clean and safe water supply for consumption.
But now, it looks like what PAS and BN (the only two parties to have ruled the state) had promised for ages - but failed to get anything down - will finally be fulfilled by the leader of Pakatan Harapan.
How ironic, indeed!
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