Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said said the state government anticipated revenue to rise by 2.84 per cent to RM2.005 billion in 2013 compared to RM1.950 billion this year.
“Up to 89.90 per cent of the revenue is expected to be garnered from federal government sources, especially the federal government special fund and annual grants, and the remaining 10.10 per cent from the state’s own sources,” he said when tabling the budget in the state assembly.
Ahmad said that under the budget, the state government focused on the continued implementation of projects and programmes so as to complete them on schedule, such as the Jabor-Kuala Terengganu stretch of the East Coast Expressway.
This was because 2013 was the final year of implementation of the Terengganu State Development Roadmap launched in 2009, he added.
He also said that the state government allocated RM43 million to reduce hardcore poverty to zero and poverty to one per cent in 2013, and raise the current fifth position of Terengganu on the poverty list.
In conjunction with Visit Terengganu Year 2013, the state government has increased the allocation for the tourism sector to RM186.7 million next year compared to RM138.8 million before this.
Ahmad said the state government had made Tasik Kenyir the primary focus of tourism with an allocation of RM120 million for various projects, including the development of a duty-free area and tourism facilities there.
For education, he said, the state government had allocated RM53.51 million for 2013. The allocation includes RM3.2 million for the “1 State Constituency, 1 Virtual Class” project that has been implemented in 41 schools and involved 124 virtual classes.
He also said that up to October this year, 21,596 standard four pupils had obtained e-books and that since the facility was implemented in 2009, up to 113,922 pupils had benefited.
“In line with the provision of e-books, 2,069 teachers have been given laptops to facilitate teaching,” he added. — Bernama
