The Kelantan administration has pledged cooperation with federal agencies tasked to resolve decades-old water woes in the state.
Kelantan Menteri Besar Nassuruddin Daud said this in welcoming Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's announcement in Budget 2024 tabled in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
"Alhamdulillah, the federal government is helping Kelantan to resolve our water issue.
"The Kelantan government will give full cooperation to Putrajaya, to jointly solve this problem," said Nassuruddin (above, left) as quoted by Berita Harian today.
"We are always ready to work together with the federal government for the betterment of the people.
"This water issue does not only happen in Kelantan, but also happens in other states. No matter, we thank the prime minister and his administration," Nassuruddin reportedly said.
Kelantan has faced longstanding problems in supplying clean water to its residents to the extent that “rust water” has become a term often used to criticise the PAS-led state government.
The problem is usually attributed to pipes used by the water concessionaire Air Kelantan Sdn Bhd (AKSB), which are more than 40 years old.
Under Budget 2024, the prime minister has allocated RM1.1 billion to solve water issues in Kelantan, Sabah and Labuan.
This includes the construction of a new water treatment plant in Machang, Kelantan - with a capacity of 250 million litres a day to increase the state's water reserves.
'More federal allocation'
Separately, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who attended a National Sports Day function in Gua Musang, said the federal government hopes that Kelantan will utilise an RM276 million allocation under Budget 2024 to build seven sports facilities for the 2028 Malaysia Games (Sukma) - which the east coast state will host.
"The government wants sports to be an element that creates integration among the people, despite their different political leanings.
"For that, Kelantan certainly has the highest sporting talent but it has to be polished with (better) facilities and coaching," Bernama reported Zahid as saying.
Zahid, who is also rural and regional development minister, said the South Kelantan Development Authority (Kesedar) would consider making an application for a sports complex to be built in Gua Musang.
"I will hold talks with several ministries, including the Youth and Sports Ministry and the Finance Ministry.
"I will announce a decision, most probably, this year or next year,” he said. - Mkini
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