KOTA BARU: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government did not ignore states like Kelantan and Terengganu in the recent 2019 Budget as claimed by certain quarters.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the Government had never ignored the states as it wants all states in the country to develop well.
“There is no such thing (government ignoring Kelantan and Terengganu as claimed by certain people). I was just given a briefing on the East-Coast Economic Region (ECER) project which is good for the east-coast states.
“I believe if all the menteris besar from Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan hear this, it will be good. There has been progress,” said Dr Wan Azizah who is also the National Flood Disaster Management chairman.
She said this to reporters after attending a meeting on east coast flood preparations at Kompleks Kota Darulnaim here today.
The meeting, which lasted almost two hours, was attended by representatives of various agencies and departments from the three states.
Dr Wan Azizah was commenting on a statement by Pas deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man who claimed that the 2019 Budget presented by Minister of Finance Lim Guan Eng in the Dewan Rakyat, had ignored the East Coast, as it did not touch on development in the opposition-controlled states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang.
On another development, she said the Government had spent about RM8.117 million on ‘wang ihsan’ (aid) to flood victims in the East-Coast states until last month.
She said the payment was given since last year not since big flood in 2014 and of the amount, Terengganu recorded the highest payment of RM1.840 million, followed by Pahang (RM1.779 million) and Kelantan RM4.498 million.
“Each family who was hit by the flood, received RM500,” she said.
She said the Government had also approved another RM1.77 million for operations by the state Disaster Management Committee during the flood season.
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