KUALA LUMPUR, 18 Feb — The Terengganu state government is targeting to collect up to RM50 million in sponsorship before the end of the year for the Terengganu State Sports Development Fund (TPSNT) launched last night.
Disclosing this at a media conference after the launching of the fund, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman said that the fund had so far raised RM23.25 million in sponsorship including RM12 million from the state government.
“The target is based on the commitment made by the state government, government-linked corporations as well as the private sector and focus would be given to four major sports clusters.
“For this year, we allocated RM5 million for football, hockey (RM1 million), cycling (RM1 million) and horse endurance (RM2 million),” he said.
Earlier in his launching speech, Ahmad Razif said the fund would function as a platform for coordinating contributions and sponsorships for the development of sports in Terengganu.
He said no limit had been fixed for channelling contributions from the fund to any sports in the state, but they must demonstrate outstanding performance besides taking into consideration the financial needs of the sports concerned.
At the event, the Mentri Besar also witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Terengganu Foundation, Terengganu State Education Department and the Terengganu State Sports Council to establish the ‘Riding School’ programme in the state.
Meanwhile, State Exco for Youth, Sports and Human Resources Datuk Rozi Mamat who is also TPSNT Chairman, explained that the establishment of the fund was expected to ease the financial burden of the state government in channelling funds to certain sports.
He also explained that the allocation for the fund did not include the allocation specified for other sporting activities such as the preparation to face the 2016 Malaysia Games in Sarawak in July. — Bernama
