KUALA LUMPUR: Local councils have yet to pay RM493 million owed to the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) for rubbish collection and street cleaning services already carried out.
Ipoh Timur member of parliament Howard Lee said the arrears have built up over the years and are now affecting SWCorp’s ability to pay its contractors.
He told the Dewan Rakyat that the debts stem from a 2011 agreement, under which the federal government took over domestic waste management in several states.
Under the deal, local councils were required to make annual payments into a federal fund managed by SWCorp.
“Rubbish has been picked up, the streets cleaned, but the money never came,” he said during the debate on the 13th Malaysia Plan.
States currently under the national waste management system include Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Johor, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Kedah and Perlis.
Lee, who sits on SWCorp’s board, urged the federal government to compel councils to raise their monthly repayments and begin clearing their debts.
For councils unable to afford repayments, he proposed intervention by their respective state governments.
He also suggested options such as soft loans, asset sales, or making full repayment part of their 2026 budgets.
Lee said the federal government had already stepped in this year with RM8 million in grants to assist eight local councils with repayments.
To ensure accountability, he called on the Housing and Local Government Ministry to impose penalties on councils that continue to default.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
