ETALING JAYA, Jan 1 — The Klang Municipal Council said yesterday it has no money to upgrade the Pandamaran hockey stadium.
It said it requested funds from the state and federal governments but their applications to upgrade the stadium and repair the pitch were turned down as both governments claimed there were “insufficient funds”.
The council’s corporate department director, Dahwari Daud, said: “We have plans but lack the funds to implement them.
“Our applications (for funds) were rejected last year but we will continue to apply for an extra allocation from the state and federal governments to upgrade the Pandamaran stadium.”
Dahwari was asked to respond to the ‘Haresh Says’ column in The Malay Mail yesterday headlined “Do the right thing, Khalid Ibrahim”. The column highlighted the poor condition of the Pandamaran and Petaling Jaya hockey stadiums.
The Selangor Hockey Association first raised the issue in 2009. Hockey lovers were irked by the situation, more so after the state government agreed to give Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, elected representatives, executive council members, speaker and deputy speaker pay rises from today.
Khalid had also made public the news that the state had allocated RM2.28 billion for the 2014 Budget during the state assembly in November, with RM2.8 billion in reserve.
The Petaling Jaya City Council has allocated RM1.8 million to upgrade the PJ stadium at Jalan Selangor this year.
The council’s public relations officer, Zainun Zakaria, said: “The council was committed to providing a comfortable playing environment for players. This will include upgrading the pitch, earthworks, new goal posts, scoreboard and fencing.”
Zainun said the council closed the stadium recently to upgrade buildings for which an allocation of RM500,000 has already been set aside.
