By Selangor Journal Team
SHAH ALAM, Oct 25 — Klang still has 3,544 households that are living in poverty as of the end of last month, Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming revealed.
This is based on data retrieved from the eKasih system under the Prime Minister’s Department’s Implementation Coordination Unit.
He said this in a written parliamentary reply to Klang MP V. Ganabatirau, who wanted to know the number of people in the country living in urban poor conditions, as well as in Klang, and the government’s long term plans to address the issue.
Nga did not provide details on the total number of Malaysians currently living in poverty.
The minister, however, expressed the government’s commitment to put an end to hardcore poverty in the country by the end of this year, in line with the pledge made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, which has also been included as part of the 12th Malaysia Plan mid-term review.
Nga said specifically, the administration will focus on entrepreneurial training, access to education and improving quality of life.
“One of our approaches includes the People’s Income Initiative (IPR), which was launched by the Economy Ministry on January 26.
“Under IPR, we have three pilot programmes, namely the Agricultural Entrepreneur Initiative (Intan), Food Entrepreneur Initiative (Insan) and Service Operator Initiative (Ikhsan).
“These initiatives involve cooperation between government, rakyat and strategic partners through a whole-of-nation approach.”
Nga said his ministry is also working together with the Economy Ministry to ensure IPR’s success, with RM55 million allocated to assist entrepreneurs under the Community Economic Empowerment (PEKB) programme.
Additionally, the government has allocated RM173.9 million to repair homes located in cities and a further RM31.7 million for the construction of new houses in urban centres.
