MARANG: Terengganu will receive RM250 million balance from last year’s oil and gas royalty - but only when the federal government has sufficient funds.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that the Pakatan Harapan-led federal government did not stipulate a time frame for the payment.
“We have decided that we will pay Terengganu accordingly when we have the funds,” he said in reference to the present tight economic situation of the country.
He told this to newsmen after addressing farmers and fishermen at the Marang district town hall.
Dr Mahathir was asked to respond to Terengganu Menteri Besar Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar’s claim that the east coast peninsula state had yet to receive the balance of the oil and gas royalty for last year.
Samsuri had revealed late last year that the federal government had already released a total of RM450 million from oil and gas royalty to the state last year but the balance of the RM250 million had yet to be paid.