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(NST) - Development projects and aid provided by the government for the people of Kuala Besut are not because of the election or pressure from the opposition. Instead, they are implemented after thorough planning, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said today.
Referring to the upgrading of a dam in Kampung Nangka, he said the project had been planned long time ago.
"The question of projects being hastily approved does not arise because there are various processes involved before a project, like upgrading of a dam, can be implemented, from conducting a study to design work.
"It cannot be done in two weeks. Perhaps, the opposition thinks building such a project is like making a bund in the padi fields," he told reporters after a visit to the Kuala Besut Farmers' market here today.
Ismail Sabri said this in response to a claim by PAS election director Dr Hatta Ramli that the people were able to get aid from the government because of pressure imposed by the opposition in the Kuala Besut by-election campaign.
The Barisan Nasional has announced Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abd Rahman, 37, a civil engineer with the Drainage and Irrigation Department who hails from Kuala Besut, as its candidate while PAS has named Endot alias Azlan Yusof, 48, a contractor, as its candidate.
The by-election has been necessitated by the death of assemblyman Dr A. Rahman Mokhtar of the BN of lung cancer on June 26. He had won the seat with a 2,434 majority by beating Napisah Ismail of PAS in the general election on May 5. Kuala Besut has 17,683 voters.
On another matter, Ismail said wholesale markets for farmers to sell their products directly to the consumers will be set up throughout the country.
He said for those who did not sell their produce themselves at the farmers' market, the wholesale markets would provide an alternative space for the farmers to sell their products without going through the middlemen.
"This wholesale market will be different from the existing wholesale markets because some of the existing markets do not involve the farmers and sell products that are not produced by the small farmers or villagers.
"That's why the small farmers sometimes do not have a place to sell their produce," he said.
Ismail Sabri said detailed discussions would be held on the proposal to set up the wholesale markets as it involved approvals from the Local Authorities among others.
Meanwhile in his speech, the minister announced an immediate approval for the additional allocation of RM500,000 to the RM1 million allocation which was announced by him on Sunday to repair the Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority (LKIM) Complex in Kuala Besut.
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