BANGI: Kedah is preparing to take legal action against the Penang government to seek compensation for raw water usage.
Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said Penang's insistence on pursuing legal proceedings leaves him with no option but to bring the case to court.
"Penang (Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow) is the one who said if (we) want to claim compensation, bring it to court. They are the ones who insisted, not me.
"Read his statement. We will proceed with it," he told reporters after a Perikatan Nasional-led state governments (SG4) conference.
Present were SG4 state leaders including Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Nassuruddin Daud and Perlis Menteri Besar Mohd Shukri Ramli.
In his speech at the SG4 conference earlier, Sanusi said there was a lot of resistance, and it took years for the state government to make Penang pay for the water charges.
"This issue has been ongoing for decades. When we sought to make this part of the government's revenue so that they would pay for the water they've been taking for years, there was a lot of resistance.
"They even suggested taking the matter to court," he said.
Sanusi said this claim was first raised in 2010 by the then menteri besar, Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak, but the matter remains unresolved.
"Because of their wish to dispute this with us in court, we have no choice but to bring this case (to court) soon.
"The amount taken from Sungai Muda is twice what is used by Kedah itself. Our land, our river, our water, they use it for free while we have to pay," he said.
On Aug 27, Chow had said they had not received any legal claims regarding the payment for raw water charges from Kedah.
He had said that if the Kedah was serious about the claim, they should initiate legal proceedings so that the matter can be resolved according to the law.