PETALING JAYA: Small and medium scale businesses are fearful of a prolonged water rationing exercise as they are already struggling to cope with the current rationing exercise.
SMI Association of Malaysia president Teh Kee Sin said some members claimed that the water shortage had caused them to “run into losses” as they were unable to accept the usual number of orders from their customers.
These members were those from the food processing and injection moulding industries.
Teh said it was impossible for the food processing industry to conduct their operations without water.
“They need to use a lot of water, but lack the funds to invest in tanks to store water. Sometimes, they are also constrained by space,” said Teh, who added that it felt strange that “an elite state” like Selangor faced frequent water shortages.
“The situation has cast a negative image on the country and does not reflect well on how we manage our water,” he said, adding that both the state and federal governments must put their differences aside in order to resolve water-related issues.
Meanwhile, Ossia World of Golf executive director Saw Swee Leong said that the water rationing exercise had caused a lot inconvenience to his workers.
He said the warehouse dealing with sports equipment and goods had 60 workers and they had invested a substantial amount of money to obtain three water tanks to cope with the shortage.
“We have placed a tank at each of our office floors to cover the rationing period,” he said,
Loong Yee restaurant operator Heng Teo Chean, 47, of Taman Midah, Cheras said he almost closed his restaurant after the taps ran dry since March 28.
Fortunately, the supply was reconnected on Sunday and he managed to open his premise.
“However, the water was murky and appeared like Chinese tea until yesterday morning,” Heng said, adding that he had purchased an additional tank to store water for the dry days.
