Malaysia, which supplies raw water to Singapore, has complained about the island-state's high charges when it sells treated water back to Johor.

Johor is now spending MR$649.1 million (US$171 million) to build its own water treatment plant, said project operator SAJ Holdings Sdn. Bhd.

Company spokesman Azmi Mahmood was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency the plant would have the capacity to produce 160 million litres of treated water daily.

At present, Johor sells 910 million litres of raw water daily to Singapore and buys 130 million litres of treated water in return.

Azmi said Singapore charged MR$0.50 for every 1000 gallons of treated water but this did not include maintenance, distribution and operational costs.

Taking into account all these other costs, he said SAJ Holdings had to spend MR$6.86 on average to supply the same amount to consumers.

Johor has cut down its purchase of treated water from Singapore since 1995 and will stop altogether when the plant is ready at the end of 2002, he added.

Singapore obtains half of its daily water needs from Johor. Its two water agreements with Malaysia expires in 2011 and 2061.