Selangor: The Selangor state government spent RM800 million last year on a 285-km pipe replacement project across the state as part of efforts to address non-revenue water (NRW) issues.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, State Infrastructure and Agriculture Committee chairman Datuk Izham Hashim said the initiative has reduced the NRW rate to 27 per cent currently, compared with 34 per cent around 2017-2018, and pipe replacement will continue with a target of 300 km. He stated that reducing the NRW rate was a costly effort, with the state government spending up to RM300 million to bring it down by at least one percentage point.
Izham explained that NRW is not an easy issue to address due to the high cost of replacement. He pointed out that pipe replacement alone will not reduce it, as there are many other causes of NRW, including leaking water tanks and theft of pipes. This was discussed after a press conference on the launch of the Selangor Agenda for Green Economy (SAGE) website.
He further mentioned that the state government aims to reduce the NRW rate to below 20 per cent through a reduction plan of about one percentage point each year. Earlier, the state government officially launched the SAGE website, a dedicated digital platform to track the state's efforts over 10 years towards a cleaner and more resilient economy from 2025 to 2035.
Izham highlighted that the website serves as SAGE's main dashboard, allowing users to explore the 2025-2035 roadmap, interact with the state's green economy agenda, and monitor project implementation progress in real time. SAGE was built on more than 30 strategic state projects covering the full spectrum of energy, including brown, renewable, and sustainable energy.
Izham concluded that all these efforts are aimed at ensuring Selangor is prepared to meet future demand, particularly from high-intensity sectors such as data centres and semiconductors. He emphasized that this approach is implemented progressively and in a balanced manner, without compromising energy supply security.