13 records for Penang under Pakatan's 10-year rule: Guan Eng

The Pakatan Harapan government achieved 13 unique records during its ten-year tenure in Penang, chief minister Lim Guan Eng (above) said today.

Speaking on the eve of the dissolution of the Penang state assembly, he said one of the foremost achievements for the Harapan administration was a state that was "clean and has integrity".

This was due to the public declaration of assets by state government officials, Lim said.

Under Harapan governance, the accumulated revenue for 10 years for the state was RM719.3 million, more than the amount recorded under 50 years of the previous government which totalled RM373 million, Lim said.

"We have also achieved a 90 percent reduction in state debts making Penang the state with the least debts in Malaysia at a total of RM62.06 million in 2017," said Lim in his speech.

Lim said the Harapan government had also successfully turned the state from a "rubbish dump" into one of the cleanest states in Asia while Penang was also one of the states in Malaysia which never carried out water rationing.

"And we promise not to carry out water rationing in the coming 10 years," Lim said.

Lim said Penangites also got to enjoy the lowest tariff in the country for domestic water rates with 32 sen for every 1,000 litres for the first 35,000 litres.

This compared to Johor which imposed a rate of RM1.32 for the same amount of water, Lim said.

He also noted that Penang was one of the states in Malaysia which had not cleared "even one inch" of its forest reserves in the past 10 years compared to other states which have cleared some 544,011 hectares of forest reserves.

Meanwhile, Lim said Penang was also a welfare state with cash payments of RM412.6 million via various programmes to eradicate hardcore poverty.

Digital Library

Penang is also an "entrepreneur state" with a 90 percent hike in investment and an increase in new and direct flights from Doha, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Hainan which has increased the number of tourists as much as 100 percent compared to the previous government, Lim said.

"Penang also recorded the highest recycle rates, 38 percent, in Malaysia compared to the national rate of 22 percent," Lim said, adding the state Penang was one of the safest in the country with the use of 1,000 CCTVs.

Penang was also unique in that it provided annual allocations for religious and vernacular schools while expanding its Stem and Industrial Revolution 4.0 education initiative including the construction of the Penang Digital library - a first in Malaysia - on the island and mainland.

"We have also managed to transform a number of failed projects under the former administration like Penang Hill, the Spice Exhibition Center and rehabilitated the abandoned Taman Majestic housing project and the Komtar building," he said.

As for housing, he said Penang under Harapan had built 25,555 units of low-cost (RM42,000 each) and low medium cost (RM72,000 each) homes, which was five times more than the 5,154 homes built by the previous government.

"In terms of religious harmony, we have elevated Islam by increasing by 84 percent the allocation for the Islamic Affairs Welfare Department and for other religions and acknowledging its status." - Mkini