KOTA BARU, Jan 16 — The federal government has channelled RM400 million in petroleum payments to the Kelantan government for the year 2020 and 2021, said Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.

He said the payment was given directly to the state government based on 5 per cent of the state’s petroleum revenue.

Payment of RM200 million was made last year and for 2020, also RM200 million.

"This payment was made directly and 100 per cent was channelled to the state government based on the current price of petroleum,” he told reporters after a briefing on Budget 2022 with the Kelantan civil servants in Kota Darulnaim, here today.

Tengku Zafrul said the amount was a multi-fold increase from the amount paid in 2019, which was RM28 million.

Also present were Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob and his deputy, Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah.

In another development, Tengku Zafrul said the government had allocated RM2.39 billion this year for implementation of 351 development projects in Kelantan, compared to RM1.8 billion, involving 340 projects last year.

The projects included the construction of the Palekbang bridge, costing RM250 million, "Mesra Rakyat” projects (RM102 million) and the expansion of the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport (RM483 million, he added. — Bernama