PONTIAN, Sept 29 — The development in the Tanjung Piai Parliamentary constituency, near here, will continue to be implemented after the demise of its representative Datuk Dr Md Farid Md Rafik on September 21.
Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Sahruddin Jamal said the state government would ensure all the projects planned by the late Dr Md Farid especially 17 projects involving federal government allocations, would be continued.
He was thankful that the late Dr Md Farid had implemented many developments in the Pontian area after Pakatan Harapan (PH) won the 14th General Election (GE).
“Among the earliest projects he had implemented included the upgrading of the market in Pekan Nanas. He had also sought a RM14.75 million allocation (for 17 projects) which has just been approved last month.
“Congratulations to the Tanjung Piai communities. God willing, my friends and I in the state government leadership will continue to ensure the projects sought by Dr Md Farid will be immediately implemented in Tanjung Piai,” he told reporters after a working visit to the district here today.
Earlier, he attended a leadership-with-the-people gathering at the Pontian District Tourism Information Centre, here, this evening.
Regarding Dr Md Farid as a great leader, Dr Sahruddin said he had successfully brought developments and bringing a large allocation to the Tanjung Piai area, despite being an elected representative for only over a year
Among the 17 development projects planned included the construction of a hall, school field and other facilities which would benefit the Tanjung Piai communities.
Meanwhile, when asked whether the Parliamentary seat still belonged to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), he confirmed that it still belonged to Bersatu to date.
“As far as I am aware, god willing, the candidate will be from Bersatu. We wait for the announcement from the Bersatu Supreme Council and Pakatan Harapan. We are not sure, we wait (for the announcement),” he said.
The seat was vacated following the death of Dr Md Farid on Sept 21 due to a heart complication.
Meanwhile, on his visit to the Kukup International Ferry Terminal, here this morning, he said the terminal was expected to become operational latest by November 1.
“We will try to speed up the operations at the terminal. We target on Oct 15 until Nov 1 for it to be operational,” he said.
When asked whether there were parties keen to handle the concession for the terminal, he said: “For the time being, it is under the Johor Public Transport Corporation (JPTC). We will see if there is a need for a concessionaire or a government-linked company (GLC) to take over”.
The terminal was ordered closed on September 1 following the state government’s decision to take over its handling via JPTC to replace the previous concession company whose operations had been terminated.
The ferry operations at the terminal had been temporarily transferred to the Puteri Harbour International Ferry Terminal at Iskandar Puteri. — Bernama
