SHAH ALAM: Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali pledged to use the entire Malaysian Road Record Information System (Marris) allocation from the Federal Government to maintain roads in the state.
The utilisation of the allocation, which is provided to every state, was subject to each state government's method of distribution.
"Some states use it to pay the salary of civil servants while others only use some of the funds and not all.
"From a moral perspective, I resolve that the Marris allocation, amounting to about RM500 million a year, will be 100 per cent channelled to the local councils for the purpose of maintaining roads and trenches," Azmin told reporters after launching a dengue action plan at Dewan Jubli Perak, Bangunan Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, here, today.
His predecessor former Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim had previously been criticised for having spent only some of the Marris allocation for roads and keeping the rest in the state's reserves.
When asked whether Khalid had failed to utilise the Marris allocation effectively, Azmin refused to make any accusatory remarks and brushed the query aside.
"Let the past be in the past, we shall move forward," he responded.
Regarding the Bahasa Malaysia and Iban language Bibles seized by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) from the Bible Society of Malaysia in January this year, Azmin said he has met with both JAIS and the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) on the issue.
After their discussions, he said he had referred the matter to the Sultan to obtain his consent on the efforts to solve the problem harmoniously.
However, Azmin was evasive when pressed to put a timeframe on the resolution of the problem.
"What is important is I am committed to resolving this issue.
"The meetings were very forthcoming and we will announce the outcome of this issue in the near future," he said.
Meanwhile, the state government took a proactive intiative in tackling dengue yesterday by launching an aggressive dengue action plan and campaign with the goal of reducing the number of dengue cases by half by the end of this year.
Health, Welfare, Women and Family Affairs committee chairman Dr Daroyah Alwi said Selangor records about 1,000 dengue cases every week and contributes about 50 per cent to the total number of cases recorded nationwide.
"In the last two months of the year, we target to reduce the number of cases as much as 50 per cent, that is to 500 cases a week and we hope the number will keep dropping," she said