JOHOR BARU: The Johor government is embarking on a gargantuan task of replacing 6,000km of underground pipes and connections to address the frequent water supply disruption faced by its people.

State Works, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said the effort was crucial as the pipes in Johor were between 30 and 40 years old.

He said due to that and as they were mostly made of cement, they were prone to cracking under pressure during excavation work.

"We have a utility map system which traces 26,000km of underground pipelines in the state. Of that number, 20,000km of pipelines have been upgraded or replaced.

"However, as 6,000km of our pipelines are extremely old, the utility's map system cannot detect the pipelines for excavation work for upgrading, or replacement work to be carried out."

Fazli said the unmapped pipes attributed to the disruption in October, which affected Pasir Gudang.

He said the excavators could not detect the old pipeline and caused the existing pipelines in the location to crack and burst.

He said the state water supplier Ranhill SAJ had been asked to seek new standard operating procedures to connect the broken pipes when the earthwork and excavation were to be carried out, to prevent such disruptions.

He said this after a winding up session of the Budget debate for his committee at the state assembly here today.

In October, 120,000 ratepayers in Pasir Gudang experienced disruptions in the water supply for five days, after a pipe burst during a pipe installation work carried out by the Finance Ministry's Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd near Persiaran Seri Alam, Masai.

On the upgrading of the 6,000km pipeline, Fazli, who is also Bukit Pasir assemblyman, said the Johor government expected the replacement or repair work for the pipes to be completed within the next 10 years.

He said the process could not be completed in a shorter time frame due to lack of allocation.

"Johor allocated RM280 million per year to replace the old pipeline, but it was only able to replace the old pipeline for a distance of 234 km.

"I will meet with the National Water Services Commission to request assistance, including applying for additional funds to speed up the process of replacing the old pipes.

"This is to shorten the replacement period to five years."

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