SS12 to SS19 Subang Jaya experienced water disruption in the last few days. When residents’ calls to Puspel (Syabas’ Customer Service) went unanswered, my office was flooded with calls from residents.
Residents from these affected areas informed me that there was no prior notice by Syabas on the water disruption. My office and I then made attempts to contact Syabas for information.
As my office continued to receive calls from residents, we found that many were unsure as to who is responsible for the operations and service of Syabas. We had to explain that Syabas is a privatised company and it has its duty to inform its own customers of any disruption in water supply.
However, due to the critical nature of this disruption, I had to step in and assist residents in obtaining timely information. I immediately contacted one of the executive directors of Syabas, who promised to look into the matter.
Due to lack of information and response from Syabas’ towards residents’ calls, I assisted to provide updates from Syabas via Twitter as and when I received them.
While waiting for water supply to be restored, I requested for water tankers to be deployed to these affected areas. I was told that as of 9pm last night, 10 tankers made a total of 32 trips to various parts of Subang Jaya, as and when requested by residents via Puspel.
Today, I understand from Syabas and residents that water supply has been restored. This water disruption has been caused by decrease in water level at three reservoirs in Effingham, Bukit Gasing and Subang Airport and has affected water distribution to9,000 customers’ accounts, supply to which is unstable.
I have also informed the Menteri Besar of Selangor, Khalid Ibrahim, on this matter and these are the following issues which I will pursue with Syabas following this incident:
* why wasn’t there an alert when water level at these three reservoirs dropped?
* why didn’t consumers receive any notice (prior to and during disruption)?
* what happened to Puspel’s call centre and what is its call-handling capacity especially during a crisis?
For those who are not aware, the Selangor State Government has been making attempts to restructure the water industry in Selangor but has received no favourable response from Syabas. For more details on this effort, kindly visit www.airuntukrakyat.net.
Hannah Yeoh
Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri Selangor
State Assemblywoman
N.31 Subang Jaya
http://www.hannahyeoh.com
C. Khor
CJMY
