Stock check: Armizan (second from right) inspecting the price and supply of gas cylinders for the Community Drumming Project in Tenom. — Bernama
KOTA KINABALU: Six states have been allocated some RM225mil in funds under a special programme to ensure those at designated rural areas have access to essential items, says Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali.
The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister said Sabah, Sarawak, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Kedah would benefit from the Federal Government’s Essential Goods Distribution, LPG (liquefied natural gas) and Community Drumming Programme for this year.
He said for Sabah, 654 points of sale (PoS) have been identified for implementation this year, with an estimated RM79.7mil allocated.
He said the programme was aimed at giving government subsidies through the appointment of transporter companies, which transfer selected essential and controlled goods from the points of source to the points of sale in interior areas as well as islands.
“The objective of the programme was to ensure residents at designated rural areas have access to essential items, particularly controlled goods at the same price as enjoyed by people in other areas,” he said in a statement here yesterday.
“At the same time, the programme can also help in creating stability on the supply of essential and controlled goods in the interior areas,” he added.
Armizan said the transport costs of these items to such locations will be borne by the government under the initiative. He added the seven goods covered under this programme were white rice, refined white sugar, wheat flour, cooking oil, LPG tanks and RON95 petrol and diesel.
He said this after inspecting the implementation of the programme in Sabah’s interior Tenom district.
The Minister said the government was also in the process of improving the programme’s implementation.
One of three improvements, Armizan said, involved carrying out an open tender system on the appointment of transporter companies during the middle of last year instead of a direct negotiation method previously.
“Studies are also being done to upgrade the existing mechanism on control and compliance, which depended on manual reporting.
“The improvement will include pictorial reports and will take into consideration the development of a special system, which takes into account Internet connectivity in interior areas,” he said.
To address issues on leakages and ensure the limited supplies reach the target group, Armizan said the ministry will seek the proactive involvement of the local authority to propose the points of sale as well as beneficiaries.
“The ministry will work hard to implement these improvements to ensure the objective of this programme is realised and subsequently help the target group in line with subsidy policy under the Madani government,” he said.
