KUALA LUMPUR: Almost RM48 billion in business, financing and educational opportunities have been created for Bumiputeras under the Strategic Reform Initiative (SRI) to bridge the inequality gap as of last year.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the "Carve Out and Compete" initiative was also a new development this year, with a special Bumiputera allocation of more than RM10 billion through various projects and worth almost RM24 billion since 2012.
"This year also witnessed continuity in programmes to enhance Bumiputera access to financing and markets, such as the more than RM2 billion TeraS Fund, the RM580 million Halal Fund and the Jejak Jaya Bumiputera Scheme," he added.
Speaking at the ceremony to launch the 2014 Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) here today, Najib explained that the MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang Line project was now ahead of schedule with 59 per cent completed as of December last year.
Also, the Finance Minister, he said the first phase of the project from Sungai Buloh to Semantan, is expected to be operational in December 2016 and be fully operational up to Kajang in July 2017.
"This project has provided job opportunities to about 2,800 engineers in Malaysia, with 20 per cent of them being young engineers," he added.
Meanwhile, Najib said the river clean up project or "River of Life" involving the Sungai Kelang and Sungai Gombak, up to last year, was 53 per cent complete.
Under this project, eight river water treatment plants and four to treat waste water, had been completed.
Both projects are under the National Key Economic Area (NKEA) Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley.
At the same time, Najib said about 2,000 retailers had seen an improvement in their business and better quality of life, since implementation of the NKEA Wholesale and Retail, Retailers Transformation Programme or TUKAR implemented in 2011. --Bernama