BUTTERWORTH, Nov 9 — The Housing and Local Government Ministry (KPKT) will introduce a Community Cooperation Secretariat with three KPKT officers in selected People’s Housing Projects (PPRs) nationwide to raise community awareness on cleanliness, site management and revenue generation.

Its minister, Zuraida Kamaruddin, said the officers would be stationed permanently to oversee the secretariat at the selected PPRs.

She said the initiative was carried out because the level of awareness on hygiene and upkeep of premises among residents in such housing areas is still low.

“We will identify places which are especially dirty, with trash scattered everywhere and so on, for us to implement the programme because we believe if we could improve the awareness of people in these places, the impact will be felt nationwide.

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“The local government will identify the PPR in their area (for this programme). For areas without PPR, the local government will identify villages or communities that still have poor cleanliness management,” she told reporters after launching the Eco-Community Programme at Taman Bagan Jaya PPR, here today.

Zuraida said her ministry hoped to establish such secretariat at 10 PPRs this year and at another 20 PPRs next year.

Commenting on the Eco-Community Programme, she said the programme was introduced to encourage the involvement of the local communities, especially PPRs residents, in maintaining public hygiene and to prioritise health.

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She said the programme also helped to raise community awareness of the importance of waste segregation as well as in generating additional earnings with recycled waste.

“We want to encourage the PPR residents to understand the ecosystem of the National Cleanliness Policy by turning waste into money. We hope this activity will help the residents generate extra earnings by sending items which can be recycled to the solid waste management companies appointed by KPKT.

“Redemption will be in the form of cash and groceries items. We are also figuring ways on how to change the redemption into maintenance fees for those who cannot afford (the maintenance fee),” she said.

The first series of the Eco-Community Programme was launched at the Taman Bagan Jaya PPR, while five more locations have been identified for the programme, namely PPR Desa Mutiara in Tebrau, Johor; PPR Padang Hilir in Kuala Terengganu; Laman Budaya Kuala Kangsar in Perak; Taman Kosas in Ampang, Selangor and PPR Taman Sri Keramat in Putatan, Sabah. — Bernama