8 theSun | THURSDAY DECEMBER 18 2008

news without borders

Selangor on dengue alert

following rise in cases
SHAH ALAM: Selangor has issued
a dengue alert following the rising
number of cases which are expected
to escalate in tandem with a two-
year dengue case rise pattern.
State executive councillor for
poverty, welfare, estate workers
and health Xavier Jayakumar said
yesterday there have been 39 deaths
because of dengue this year.
“What is sad is that many of these
people are aged between 19 and
40,” he said.
“We are urging the public to
work together with the local council
health departments to stamp out
the menace by spending at least
10 minutes a week to clean their
compounds and the areas outside
their homes.”
Health Ministry disease control
director Datuk Dr Hasan Abdul Rah-
man said in a statement issued in
Putrajaya three people died from
dengue and 1,273 cases were
reported from Nov 30 to Dec 6, the
highest recorded in one week this
year, Bernama reported.
He said 98 people had died from
dengue this year with 44,494 cases
reported.
The 1,273 cases recorded was an
increase of 207 from the previous
week.
Selangor recorded the highest
with 640 cases followed by Johor
(102), Kedah (65), Sarawak (50),
Pahang (42), Kelantan (31), Sabah
(23), Perlis (13) and Putrajaya (13).
Hasan attributed the increase in
cases to lack of clean-up activities
and the rainy spell that encourages
breeding of the aedes mosquito.
“Fogging also did not meet our
target because of lack of coopera-
tion from residents,” he said.
Status of land, fate of
residents rest on report
Probe
into
Madoff by Maria J. Dass
fraud newsdesk@thesundaily.com
pg12 SHAH ALAM: The status of
the land in Bukit Antarabangsa,
which was affected by a
landslide on Dec 7, and the fate
of thousands of its residents
who had to move out because
of soil movements rest on the
report of the Public Works
Department.
Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul
Khalid Ibrahim said the PWD
has promised to submit its
report to the state government
by today and the state will
decide and announce its next
course of action tomorrow.
Geologists and the Public
Works Institute of Malaysia
(Ikram) are also involved
in drawing up the report.
It is learnt that Ikram has
completed its findings and
recommendations and has
submitted a copy of these to the
Works Ministry. The PWD is
under the ministry.
Representatives from JKR
and Ikram, who held a dialogue
with the residents on Sunday,
promised to hand over the
report to the state government
today, Abdul Khalid told
reporters after the weekly state
executive council meeting.
“The state can only make
an announcement on the
status of the land, remedial
measures and other logistical
plans once this report has been
scrutinised,” he said.
“This report will determine
if the area is safe for dwelling
and allow us to plan how we
can help the people affected by
the landslide to move out, (or)
to come in and other logistical
needs.”
The landslide claimed four
lives and displaced almost 5,000
resident living in Taman Bukit
Mewah, Taman Bukit Utama,
Taman Wangsa Ukay, Taman
Bukit Jaya and Condominium
Impian Selatan, who were
advised to evacuate for safety
reasons.

State says ‘no’ to Zakaria’s family

SHAH ALAM: The state govern-
ment has rejected an application
by the family of former Port
Klang state assemblyman Datuk
Zakaria Md Deros for a temporary
occupation licence (TOL) on the
courtyard of their mansion in
Pandamaran,Klang.
The fenced-up courtyard of the
late assemblyman’s mansion was
developed on state land.
“However, the fence will
not be removed yet as we have
instructed the Klang Municipal
Council president and the district
officer to make a decision based
on a public hearing involving the
people living in the area,” Mentri
Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim
said after the weekly state execu-
tive council meeting.
“We will let the people decide
if Zakaria’s family can continue to
keep the fence or purchase the
land, or if they want to turn the
piece of land into an open area.”

Company buys RM889m

water assets from Malacca
by Tim Leonard
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PUTRAJAYA: As part of the National
Water Services Industry Restructur-
ing Initiative (NWSIRI), Pengurusan
Aset Air Bhd (PAAB), a water com-
pany under the Minister of Finance
Incorporated, acquired its inaugural
tranche of water assets valued at
RM889 million from the state of
Malacca yesterday.
The deal marks a milestone
for the government to uniformly
regulate the water resources and
services industry, and also a first
step for PAAB to achieve its man-
date to be the nation’s water asset
owner and manager.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Najib Abdul Razak said the high
rates of non-revenue water (NRW)
in most of the states have brought
about problems to these states.
“The NRW rate at the national
level for 2007 was 35.7%,” he said.
“The federal government wants
to solve the problem faced by many
states in regards to the manage-
ment of water resources.”
He said all matters relating
to borrowings for water supply
projects by state governments will
now be placed under the purview
of PAAB.
Najib later witnessed the agree-
ment signing ceremony between
Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri
Ali Rustam and PAAB CEO Suhaimi
Kamaralzaman.
Under the agreement, Malacca’s
water-related assets such as water
treatment plant, piping network and
reservoir, valued at RM889 million,
will be transferred to PAAB.
In exchange, PAAB will relieve
Malacca of its federal government
water asset loans amounting to
RM770 million. As the value of the
assets exceeds the loan amount, a
differential sum of RM119 million
will be paid to Malacca.
After the sale of assets, Syarikat
Air Melaka Bhd (SAMB), the state
water operator, will continue to
manage the water services for the
state. SAMB will lease the water as-
sets from PAAB for a 45-year period
at a mutually agreed annual rate of
RM26 million.

P. Ramlee’s son Mohamed Nasir dies

KUALA LUMPUR: Mohamad Nasir Ramlee, the son of entertainment
icon Tan Sri P. Ramlee, died of heart and kidney failure yesterday. He was
55.
He died at 5.10pm at Kuala Lumpur Hospital, where he was admitted
at 3pm.
Mohamad Nasir, who was born in Singapore, was P. Ramlee’s son from
his marriage to Junaidah, an actress of the 50s and 60s.
One of his close friends, Roslay Raffie, said Mohamad Nasir had been
unwell since Monday.
Mohamad Nasir, a staff at the Istana Budaya, had starred in a film, “Bu-
jang Lapok Kembali Da ...”, a sequel to the popular Bujang Lapok movies
starring P. Ramlee, S. Shamsuddin and Aziz Satar. – Bernama