SINGAPORE: Johor's chief minister suggested on Thursday (Jul 5) that the state sell water to Singapore about 1600 per cent more than the current price.

Speaking at a press conference, Osman Sapian said he had discussed the matter with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.



He said that the new price would not be the same as the current one, which is 3 sen per thousand gallons of raw water.

"It's time to increase (the price of raw water). Perhaps we will increase it to the same rate as sold to Melaka (which is 50 sen per thousand gallons)," he said, as reported by local news outlet Astro Awani.



"We will review the water price agreements with Singapore to make sure that this can be done. It needs to be discussed more," he added.

"I think that if the Johor government wants to raise prices at a reasonable rate, Singapore will accept it because that is our hope."





He said the Malaysian government will scrutinise the existing water agreement with Singapore to see whether it would be possible to raise the price.

Mahathir had criticised the price of raw water sold to Singapore, calling it "ridiculous", and that he intended to renegotiate the terms of the water accord.

He also said that he had yet to speak with the Singapore government on this matter.



The water issue: What's at stake and how did we get here? Explore historical footage and documents in our interactive special: http://cna.asia/water

