SEREMBAN, May 4 — The Negeri Sembilan government has taken proactive action by allocating RM18.74 million into the state disaster relief account to fund various programmes of assistance to the people and frontliners in the face of the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan, Tuanku Muhriz Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir said as everyone knows, the whole world is facing the Covid-19 epidemic that is affecting not only human lives but also almost all sectors of the world economy, with Malaysia and Negri Sembilan are both adversely impacted.
He said the state has registered moderate growth with manufacturing and service sectors being the two main contributors of the state’s gross domestic product.
“I am confident that the state government has formulated an action plan that covers the entire economic sectors to ensure its continuous growth. I hope the open door policy for investors will continue and further enhanced with incentives, such as offering comprehensive facilities and infrastructure to attract more of them to invest in Negeri Sembilan,” he said.
Tuanku Muhriz said this in his royal address for the opening ceremony of the 14th State Legislative Assembly here today.
It was attended by all 36 assemblymen with all of them were practicing social distancing and wearing face masks.
On the assistance for the people and the frontliners, Tuanku Muhriz said, among the existing and ongoing donations were basic food assistance to 39,995 households and RM300 one-off cash assistance to 10,000 hawkers or small traders registered with their respective local authorities.
“In addition, registered taxi, e-hailing or grabs and rental car drivers also received RM300 cash assistance involving 3,333 people. The state government has also donated RM500 to each family of patients diagnosed with Covid-19.
“To ease the burden of the people, the state government has waived rental payments for 4,740 renters of the public housing units for March and April, resulting in a loss of state revenue of RM1.24 million,” he said.
He said to assist Bumiputera small contractors, the state government approved 1,108 road maintenance projects under the state road maintenance trust fund involving an allocation of RM269.44 million.
An allocation of RM5 million under the economic stimulus package was approved to carry out 65 development projects to assist more small contractors especially Bumiputera contractors, he said.
The state government has also allocated a special financial assistance to all state civil service department personnel as well as all staff of the local government and statutory bodies at RM1,000 each.
“This RM6.4 million payment will be made on May 8 to ease the financial burden of civil servants during the implementation of the movement control order (MCO),” he said.
Tuanku Muhriz also expressed his pride and appreciation to all the frontline personnel and those behind the scene for their commitment and dedication in the fight against the Covid-19 outbreak.
“I urge this spirit continue to be practiced by the people even after the Covid-19 virus fully eliminated,” he said.
The assembly adjourned sine die. — Bernama
