The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) is concerned about Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor's (Syabas) proposed scheduled maintenance in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur next Wednesday and Thursday.

In a statement today, FMM said other than the residents, the maintenance work would also affect the operations of small businesses and industries.

FMM said most industries, especially those that required water for their processes, cannot afford to experience disruption in supply as stoppage of machines would lead to huge losses.

"While FMM notes that Syabas has given the necessary notification to the public, the question that needs to be answered is whether the scheduled maintenance programme could have been carried out in phases to reduce the number of areas and consumers and minimise the impact of supply disruption," it said.

Syabas must provide water supply assistance

The federation said under Syabas' client charter, it needed to provide water supply assistance by sending water tankers or static tanks or water containers when supply interruptions exceed 24 hours for scheduled and unscheduled interruptions as well as low pressure zones.

In the event of wide-scale interruption affecting over 100,000 connections for more than 24 hours, the client charter also required Syabas to implement an Emergency Response Plan to organise water relief supplies to consumers, FMM added.

"In this respect, Syabas should make known its Emergency Response Plan, especially the water supply assistance schedule to the affected areas, as some form of assurance to consumers.

"There should be some priority set to supply to businesses during their operating hours so that operations could continue as usual," it said.

- Bernama