SHAH ALAM, Aug 13 — Selangor will not approve the development of new data centres in areas without sufficient water and energy supply capacity to meet relevant industrial needs.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said this was a clear state government policy in assessing the entry of the data centre industry into Selangor.
“Data centres are not built arbitrarily; they must have certainty of sufficient water and energy supply. If there is no water supply, we will not allow them, even though quite a number of data centres have entered recently.
“Our policy is very clear: if we do not have water, we will not allow data centres to come in. They can look elsewhere,” he said during the winding-up session of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly sitting today.
Amirudin added that Selangor has a strong water supply reserve margin through capacity expansion plans, including Labohan Dagang Phase Two and the expansion of Langat Two Phase Two.
“As I mentioned, our reserve margin is very well controlled. In fact, once Rasau is completed, our reserve margin will reach 18 per cent,” he said.
Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd is also expected to meet water supply requirements, as outlined in its business plan, given the increase in the number of domestic, commercial, and industrial units.
“With the issuance of RM10 billion in sukuk by Air Selangor, we are confident that the business plan, the announced tariff increase, and the increase in domestic and commercial or industrial units will enable us not only to repay our debts, but also record a profit for the first time,” Amirudin said.
Meanwhile, the state government will introduce a 30 per cent policy to provide opportunities for local companies to become suppliers to data centres.
This would not initially restrict participation to companies based solely in Selangor, to ensure that there were sufficient eligible supplier companies and that the capacity of the data centre industry is unaffected.
“We will not restrict it to Selangor initially. We will use local companies first because if we restrict it to Selangor, the number will also be quite limited, and this would put pressure on the continued capacity of data centres,” he said.
Citing Cherry as an example, the Menteri Besar said the company has employed 100 local workers with salaries ranging from RM2,500 to RM16,000.
“Cherry also informed us that 300 local companies had secured contracts with an estimated value of RM1.2 billion,” Amirudin said.
