Penang’s water use is on track to climb about 34 per cent by 2032, and the state water utility is building new plants, pipelines and supply deals to keep pace with demand.
Daily consumption is projected to grow from 865 million litres in 2025 to at least 1,162 million litres by 2032. The increase of 34.3 per cent, Pocket News said, adds roughly 300 million litres of demand that the state has to find before the decade ends.
Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang (PBAPP) is covering the gap on three fronts: new treatment plants, two pipelines serving Penang Island, and treated water bought from Perak. Six projects under the Water Contingency Plan 2030 (WCP 2030) are already under way. Four of them, works at Mengkuang, Sungai Kerian, Sungai Perai and Sungai Muda, will lift maximum treatment capacity by 478 million litres daily and cut Seberang Perai’s dependence on the Sungai Dua plant, Bernama reported.
Two treated-water pipelines will raise transfers from Sungai Dua to the island to 600 million litres daily by 2030, from 400 million litres now. A separate 80 million litre plant on the Kerian River is being developed under a build-operate-transfer model.
From 2032, Penang plans to buy 300 to 500 million litres daily of treated water from Perak. PBAPP is also studying seawater desalination for the 2030s as cover for dry years and shifting rainfall patterns.
PBAPP laid out the spending at the PBA Holdings annual general meeting on 16 June 2026, which Chow also attended. PBAPP chief executive officer Datuk K. Pathmanathan said PBAPP and the federal government are committed to finishing 12 major projects by 2031, with close to RM2.9 billion committed over five years.
“Penang’s socioeconomic growth trajectory toward 2032 cannot be compromised or held back due to insufficient water supply,” he said after the annual general meeting of PBA Holdings Bhd, PBAPP’s parent company.
The federal government is handling five of the 12 projects through the Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation: a new Sungai Muda barrage, the Mengkuang Dam expansion, raw water development on the Sungai Kerian, intake works at Teluk Bahang, and a study of the state’s raw water resources.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who chairs PBA Holdings and PBAPP, said the parent company posted revenue of RM568.44 million in the financial year ended 31 December 2025, up from RM527.60 million a year earlier. About 85 per cent came from water sales to registered consumers. PBA Holdings declared a total dividend of 5.0 sen per share for the year.
