By John Gilbert
PETALING JAYA: National sewerage services company Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd (IWK) is in discussions with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) to\ formulate a “manageable” electricity tariff rate for IWK’s ongoing operations.
IWK’s head of communications Azzatullina Pawanchik said high power consumption cost is a factor why the company is unable to make profits as its fully mechanised public sewage treatment plants incur high operating costs due to higher consumption of electricity.
“As we progress, we need more modern equipment and sewage treatment plants to provide good service and preserve the environment.
This shall result in an increase in electricity consumption in the future, thus, the present tariff needs to be reviewed as to meet the break-even point,” she told The Malaysian Reserve recently.
IWK had suffered net losses over three consecutive years largely due to its low service tariff rates that were last raised in 1994. IWK had submitted a proposal on an increase in sewerage tariff rate to the government recently.
“Higher costs also come from the refurbishment of ageing public sewage treatment plants, replacement of public sewerage pipelines and repairing of equipment.
“IWK also has to incur other operational costs such as clearing of public blockages caused by disposing of rubbish, oil and grease and other materials into the sewerage system due to lack of awareness among the users,” she said.
Tariff for sewerage services approved by the government has remained at RM8 per month for the past 17 years.
According to IWK’s website, sewerage charges for individual septic tank or connected sewerage services for low-cost houses and government quarters are RM2 monthly, while houses in kampung, new villages and estates are charged RM3 monthly.
Premises and government quarters receiving individual septic tank services is charged RM6 monthly while connected sewerage services is charged RM8 monthly. IWK must obtain approval from the government to review its sewerage tariff rates.
The company currently carries sewerage maintenance operation on 5,960 public sewage treatment plants and 16,271km of public sewer pipe network across the country.
In increasing public awareness, Azzatullina said IWK has embarked on a communications programme to highlight its functions and services as well as the need for customers to pay their sewerage charges in a timely manner.
Research will be a key focus of the group. Currently IWK is working with Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, SIRIM Bhd, Rubber Research Institute of Malaya and other bodies on varying research topics related to wastewater.
“IWK aims to streamline the collaborations according to the research organisations’ niche expertise to further enhance the research programmes where students from the respective research organisations can partner with IWK’s staff as industrial advisors to conduct research that will contribute directly for industrial uptake versus ending up on the library shelf,” said Azzatullina.
Current and future research initiatives will cover key areas of green technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology applications for transformation of the wastewater industry in the long term, while for short and medium terms it will involve innovations for operational process improvements, she said.
IWK’s centre of excellence for research and innovation has been set up to carry out studies on the above and tap into IWK’s current researchers and technical expertise in sewerage waste management.
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