Kota Kinabalu: Kota Kinabalu Warisan Information Chief Samuel Wong has defended the party’s decision to cancel water concession contracts, insisting the move was intended to save Sabah from financial losses and end decades of corruption in the water sector.
He rejected claims that the party caused Sabah’s ongoing water disruptions, pointing out that the current GRS-PH government failed to continue vital reforms.
“Warisan inherited a broken system plagued by leaking pipes, poor infrastructure and private concession companies draining public funds while delivering poor service,” he said in a statement, here, Thursday.
He said cancelling the concession contracts saved the State RM12 million monthly.
“Despite paying RM315 million in compensation, the move prevented an estimated RM685 million in losses over 20 years.
“The 1,335 workers from the concession companies were absorbed into the Sabah Water Department,” he said.
He cited the Sabah Water Department corruption scandal, one of Malaysia’s largest, as evidence of how corruption had infiltrated the sector, with hundreds of millions siphoned off by corrupt officials.
However, he accused the current administration of abandoning Warisan’s reforms after taking power.
“The GRS-PH failed to upgrade plants, repair infrastructure and instead returned to the same networks and contractors that caused the problems,” he said.
He said today, it remains unacceptable for Sabahans to struggle for basic water access and called for a clean, efficient system free from cronyism and corruption.
