KUALA TERENGGANU: THE people of Kuala Nerus had their wish fulfilled yesterday when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that the government had agreed to elevate the status of the sub district to a full-fledged district.
Najib said Kuala Nerus, a 39,890ha “mukim” under Kuala Terengganu, would become the state’s eighth district. The existing districts are Marang, Kuala Terengganu, Besut, Setiu, Hulu Terengganu, Dungun and Kemaman.
“Since the people here have supported the plan, the government has agreed to upgrade the status of Kuala Nerus,” he said at the groundbreaking of the Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) teaching hospital project in Gong Badak here yesterday.
His announcement was met with thunderous applause from the 15,000-strong crowd.
Najib said Kuala Nerus was eligible to become a district because of the rapid development that had benefitted more than 200,000 people in the area.
“The UniSZA teaching hospital will be built at its main campus in the Kuala Nerus parliamentary constituency here.”
Apart from UniSZA, Najib said Kuala Nerus also housed Universiti Malaysia Terengganu and other facilities, including the Sultan Mahmud Airport, Sultan Mahmud bridge and the main stadiums.
He said more projects were in the pipeline, including the construction of the new Kuala Nerus township and tourism centre.
On the UniSZA teaching hospital, Najib said the government had allocated RM350 million for the construction of the first phase of the project, which would have 200 beds.
He said the project’s second phase would be implemented under the 11th Malaysia Plan, where another 200 beds would be made available.
He said the new hospital was necessary as the present ratio of hospital beds to the population in Terengganu stood at 1:837 compared with the Klang Valley (1:232), Penang (1:349) and Johor (1:474).
The ratio is also lower than the national ratio of 1:496 and the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of 1:400.
The RM600 million hospital is due to be completed by the end of 2017.
Present at the function were Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman, UniSZA pro-chancellor Tan Sri Dr Mohamad Yusof Mohamed Nor and UniSZA vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Yahaya Brahim.