SHAH ALAM, Oct 7 — Menteri Besar Selangor (Incorporation), or MBI, is looking beyond conventional water supply and infrastructure by developing water recycling, smart meter, and renewable energy solutions, while expanding its digital network to support future data centre and high-tech investments.
MBI Group chief executive officer Dato’ Saipolyazan M. Yusop said the initiatives are aimed at reducing the pressure on conventional water resources while creating new business opportunities and supporting industries like data centres that require significant amounts of water to operate.
“As of today, I think the state and federal government have approved 40 data centres in Selangor.
“Data centres use a lot of water. That’s why they move to Selangor, because they know our water supply is stable. We have a reserve margin of 18 per cent.
“Even after implementing many projects to improve our water services and supply system, we have managed to reduce our non-revenue water (NRW) to 26.8 per cent, which is recognised by SPAN (National Water Services Commission).
“We are developing the overall water ecosystem and turning it into investable businesses to attract more industries to Selangor,” he said in an interview with Astro Awani.
MBI facilitates future solutions
Saipolyazan said MBI subsidiary Air Lestari Sdn Bhd is developing water recycling solutions for water-intensive industries, with the aim of recycling between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of water used by factories and supplying it back to them.
He said MBI is also using renewable energy to support the water industry through its subsidiary Heliosel Sdn Bhd, which has generated about 35MW of electricity for Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd, which manages 2.4 million accounts in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
Saipolyazan said another MBI subsidiary, Cubiq Meters Sdn Bhd, is developing smart meters to improve meter-reading accuracy and detect leaks.
“We use smart meters … to improve our efficiency in terms of the reading of the meter and accuracy of the reading … (and) to detect our leakages in the (pipes),” he said.
He added that the various initiatives would allow MBI to provide a broader range of water-related services while exporting its capabilities to other markets.
“We provide the whole ecosystem with water. We are not worried; they can come over, we can provide the services. Not only for the water, we also can recycle,” he said.
He highlighted that MBI is expanding its digital infrastructure to prepare Selangor for future data centre and hi-tech investments, adding that subsidiary Smartsel Sdn Bhd has built 42km of dark fibre in Cyberjaya and plans to expand the network to 889km across Selangor.
“This is one of our (preparations) for the future or for any data centre plan in Selangor,” Saipolyazan said.
