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KUALA TERENGGANU, April 5 (Bernama)– The Terengganu state government has been urged to pay attention to programmes to eradicate poverty and make that a major agenda of the state.
The president of the Regency Advisory Council, Tengku Sri Panglima Raja Tengku Baderulzaman Sultan Mahmud, said although there had been many poverty eradication programmes by the government but they still did not show good results.
“Up until March, according to e-Kasih data, there were 1,905 heads of households in the state who were in the hardcore-poor category while 10,253 heads of households were poor.
“Terengganu is presently at fifth place in terms of poverty compared to other states in the country,” he said in his speech at the ceremony to declare open the third term session of the 12th State Assembly at Wisma Darul Iman here on Monday.
Tengku Baderulzaman said to achieve that aim the state government needed to pay attention to providing aid to eligible persons.
“I believe that with the cooperation of all quarters, the mission to eradicate hardcore-poverty to a zero percentage and lesser poverty to 2.8 per cent before the end of this year can be achieved,” he said.
Besides that Tengku Baderulzaman said housing for the people also needed to be made a major agenda to ensure that people could own houses with a target of one home for each family by 2020.
“That target is meant to ensure that each family has their own place to live besides doing away with the problem of illegal immigrants and have planned housing placement that was done in orderly manner with enhanced infrastruture,” he said.
According to Tengku Baderulzaman up till now 1,793 low-cost houses had been built and 6,172 were being built.
Tengku Baderulzaman said infrastructure development and public amenities will contribute to overall economic development.
“Focus must also be on enhancing the road transport network and bridges as we see congestion in towns that worsens from day to day,” he said.
Tengku Baderulzaman said the widening and opening of one-way roads was the best alternative and that the state government needed to speed up the building of flyovers at congested junctions.
In that regard, Tengku Baderulzaman said the time had come for Kuala Terengganu to be redeveloped and planned in line with its status.
He also wanted the state government to pay attention on the agriculture sector and basic farming as about some 90,000 people or 24 per cent of the state’s work force was involved in the sector.
He said the sector had not shown good results and its contribution needed to be given renewal by use of technology, porcessing development and marketing to elevate the standard of living of farmers, breeders and fishermen.
He added that besides that civil servants in the state should also focus on the value of money, and cut down on wastages and the like.
Tengku Baderulzaman said a work culture of quality would generate excellent public services.
— BERNAMA
