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Wednesday February 13, 2008
RM50mil fund to help needy in IDR
By NELSON BENJAMIN
JOHOR BARU: A special fund
totalling RM50mil has been set up to help the needy and to address social
problems within the Iskandar Development Region (IDR).
Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani
Othman said the IDR Social Projects Fund (SPF) would be used to help people,
including subsidising relocated squatters for better public housing.
“The money will also be used
to provide training for the people, social welfare and subsidised pre-schooling
for the poor,” he said, adding that the money was collected from companies
investing in the IDR.
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Fielding
questions: Ghani (centre) addressing reporters duing the IDR information day
in Johor Baru yesterday.
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Ghani, who is also the
co-chairman of the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA), said that
this was part of the social responsibility of the investors.
“This fund will be administered
by an independent board of trustees which will be appointed soon,” Ghani said,
adding that the companies should not have problems contributing to the fund as
they have been given many incentives under the comprehensive IDR plan.
Asked if there was a set
formula on how companies contributed to the SPF or the number of companies
involved, he declined to comment but said: “This is still being fine
tuned.
“We expect the fund to grow as
more investors join the IDR,” he told reporters during the IDR information day
here yesterday.
He said since its launch, IDR
has attracted investments totalling RM22bil.
“We are on track to achieve
total investment target of RM47bil by 2010,” he said.
Besides investors from the
Middle East, there were attempts to woo investments from Singapore, China,
India and Indonesia.
Ghani also announced that all
projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan were moving on schedule, especially the
construction of roads, highways and interchanges.
“The second aspect involving
the cleaning up of rivers and sewerage improvement projects were also on
schedule,” he said, adding that security was also being beefed up with
additional police stations, patrol cars and personnel.
(Source: The Star Online,
2007)
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