PONTIAN: The construction of new Mara business premises will take into account the locations to ensure that they receive good response from traders and the public.
Rural Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Harun said this was part of a transformation programme that being undertaken by Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) to ensure that the issue of such empty and unpopular premises would not arise.
“These premises are built to help entrepreneurs, so we want to make sure they are well received. We want to build them in areas where there are a lot of people,” she said.
She said a study would need to be carried out on existing premises that were not well received to find out the reasons and solutions to address the problem.
“We need to find out the factors involved. Maybe there is a change in the socio-economic status in a particular area,” Rina told reporters after opening the district-level ‘Mara Bersama Rakyat’ programme at Arked Mara here.
On another matter, Rina said the ministry would install a total of 60,000 street lights in rural areas nationwide until next year.
“The Finance Ministry has already approved an allocation of RM50 million to install 35,000 street lights for 2019 and 2020. The Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change has also approved the installation of another 25,000 LED street lights in the same period,” she said.
She added that between 2010 and 2018, the ministry has installed a total of 450,000 street lights in rural areas nationwide.
“For this year, the (Rural Development) ministry have received an allocation of RM86 million to pay for the electricity bill for these street lights while for next year, the allocation have been increased to RM89 million.”