KUALA LUMPUR: Members of Parliament should be given allocations help upgrade futsal courts all over the country.
Datuk Seri Abdul Ghapur Salleh (BN-Kalabakan) said allocation should also be given to MPs so they can help pay for youths to use other sporting facilities such as badminton courts.
Abdu Ghapur said many youths, who might someday represent the country in sports, could not afford to pay the fee for sporting facilities owned by local governments.
“There should be a way for their MP to help them.
“The Youth and Sports Ministry should provide MPs the allocation,” he said in a question to Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in Parliament today.
Abdul Ghapur, who is also Kalabakan Umno divisional chief, urged Khairy to go down to the field and see for himself the pitiful state of all 12 futsal courts in Kalabakan which are without lights and roofing, rendering it difficult to use day and night.
In reply, Khairy said his ministry had received many applications to construct new futsal courts and to upgrade existing ones.
He said the original specification for existing futsal courts had not included roofing and lighting.
“The ministry is aware of the situation.
“I had requested for additional allocation under the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP) but it had not been approved by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) due to other priorities in the government budget,” said Khairy, adding that he will continue to follow up on the matter.
Earlier on, Khairy said his ministry had approved aid to 794 out of 1196 youth associations nationwide totalling RM50,883,964, the highest amount since 2008.
He said there are 8,305 active youth associations as of 2015.