PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – A minister from Malaysia on Wednesday (April 3) urged the country’s citizens to emulate Singaporeans who uses less water than Malaysians.

Referring to Singapore as Malaysia’s “neighbour down south”, Water, Land and National Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar said the daily water usage per capita for Malaysia currently stood at 201 litres.

“We intend to lower the water usage per capita to 180 litres by the end of next year. Our neighbour down south only uses between 140 to 150 litres per individual.

“The savings of 21 litres may not seem much but it is very difficult to achieve if we do not have the awareness to conserve water,” he said at a function organised by Malaysia’s water commission, the National Water Service Commission (Span).

Span chairman Charles Santiago said that conserving water was as simple as ensuring that one did not take a bath longer than five minutes.

“Taking a five-minute shower will save us 400 litres annually,” said Mr Santiago.

At the same event, Dr Xavier also stated that the Pakatan Harapan government had taken other efforts to ensure clean water for the people.

He said loans amounting to millions of ringgit taken by state governments had been converted into grants.

Dr Xavier said this was to lessen the burden on state governments when upgrading their water plants and other water-linked infrastructure.

“We have done this in Kedah where we (the Federal Government) converted RM1.7billion (S$563 million) loans into grants. Other states are also asking for the same,” said Dr Xavier.

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