KUALA BESUT, July 22 — The multibillion ringgit mega projects to turn Kuala Besut into a tourism hub show Barisan Nasional’s failure to understand the needs of local residents, PAS said today.

This comes after Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the RM250 million river dredging and breakwater projects on Saturday, which BN claimed will attract investors, tourists and job opportunities.

“We do not reject development ... But the reality on the ground is, the locals need housing and settlements more,” PAS’s Paka assemblyman Saiful Bahri Mamat told reporters here.

“The mega projects, who will benefit more from it?” he asked.

PAS’s Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad and Raja Datuk Kamarul Bahrin Shah Ahmad also criticised a rendering of the proposed tourism hub that was shown in several dailies, claiming that it would take billions of ringgit to transform Kuala Besut to resemble the illustration.

Raja Bahrin noted that similar promises had also been made for the Kuala Terengganu City Centre project, but even up until now not one building has started construction since its announcement in October 2011.

“I think this is a dream of Mat Jenin,” said the renowned architect, referring to a popular Malay folk tale character.

Sitting on the border between Terengganu and Kelantan, Kuala Besut has missed out on development despite being a significant tourist entry point to resort islands off the Terengganu coast such as Pulau Perhentian and Pulau Redang.

Fishermen also have reportedly complained of a shallow river mouth caused by silting, forcing most deep-sea fishermen to land their catch in Kelantan’s Tok Bali instead, which is also Kuala Besut’s competitor as a jump-off point for island-hoppers.

Fishermen told The Malay Mail Online, however, that sand silting has plagued their community for a long time but has no longer become their biggest concern compared to the proliferation of Thai-manned trawlers which affect their catch.

In Kuala Besut, PAS has estimated that a total of around RM377 million has been spent by the ruling coalition since the campaign kicked off 10 days ago in the form of handouts and new projects.

Terengganu Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said had also told hundreds of Kuala Besut voters last week that they must support BN in the polls to allow planned development there to continue.

Local boys Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abdul Rahman from BN and PAS’s Azlan Yusof faces each other for the Terengganu state seat in a by-election that was called following the death of the ruling coalition’s Dr A. Rahman Mokhtar on June 26 from lung cancer.

In Election 2013, Dr Rahman had defeated PAS’s Napisah Ismail with a comfortable 2,434-vote majority. The state seat has 17,679 registered voters, of whom 98 per cent are Malays.