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New BOT WTP to Supply Up to 80 MLD More Water in Seberang Perai from 2027

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  • New BOT water treatment plant tapping Sungai Kerian in Seberang Perai Selatan (SPS) will be ready by mid-2027.
  • Additional treated water from this WTP will be supplied to high water demand areas in SPS and Seberang Perai Tengah (SPT).

PBAPP will commission a new 80 million litres per day (MLD) water treatment plant in Seberang Perai Selatan (SPS) in mid-2027.

For context, 80 MLD may be used to fill 35 Olympic-sized swimming pools or about 53.3 million large (1.5L) bottles of drinking water every day.

Work to build this RM216 (USD52.85) million water treatment plant (WTP) will be undertaken on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. Its raw water resource is Sungai Kerian, the river that serves as the natural boundary between Penang and Perak in SPS.

The ground-breaking ceremony of the Sungai Kerian BOT WTP was officiated by Penang Chief Minister YAB Tuan Chow Kon Yeow recently.

It is the first WTP to be built on Penang soil on a 30-year BOT basis. At present, all 10 of Penang’s existing WTPs are owned and operated by PBAPP. This 11th WTP, however, will be built, owned and operated by Inya Water Engineering (M) Sdn Bhd (Inya), a contractor appointed by PBAPP.

Inya has signed an agreement with PBAPP to assume responsibility for building and operating this new plant to produce up to 80 MLD of treated water per day, using conventional river water treatment technology. Upon expiry of the 30-year BOT agreement in 2057, Inya will transfer ownership of this 80 MLD WTP to PBAPP.

PBAPP will buy the treated water from Inya at an agreed upon “starting price” of RM0.98 (USD0.24) per m3 or RM0.00098 per litre from 2027. However, this treated water price does not include water intake fees, treated water storage costs, water distribution/pumping costs and other ancillary costs that will be borne by PBAPP.

PBAPP will then distribute the treated water to high water demand areas in SPS and Seberang Perai Tengah (SPT), including residential and business premises, as well as industrial parks and the new Batu Kawan Industrial Park 3 (BKIP3).

Key Benefits
The key benefits of the 80 MLD Sungai Kerian BOT WTP may be summarised as follows:

1.Rapid deploymentAvailability of an additional 80 MLD of treated water for supply in SPS and SPT by mid-2027.
2.Medium-term water supply solution for SPS and SPTThis WTP will support supply sufficiency and stability in SPS and SPT until the early 2030s. It will buy time for the realisation of the Perak-Penang Water Project (P-PWP) and/or implementation of strategic seawater desalination initiatives.
3.No multi-million ringgit CAPEX commitment for PBAPPPBAPP does not incur the RM216 million capital expenditure (CAPEX) commitment required to build an 80 MLD WTP.
4.No monthly OPEX commitment for PBAPPPBAPP will not incur any additional operational expenditure (OPEX) to manage, operate and maintain Penang’s 11th WTP.