PEKAN– The federal government has approved an allocation of RM9.5 million to revive the Felda Chini 3’s second generation housing project which has been abandoned since 2017 due to problematic contractors, said Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail.
He said that the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) had approved the allocation in April, which would be used to complete 29 units of single-storey houses and its infrastructure.
In addition, he said, Felda was seeking another allocation of RM6.4 million to build 71 more units of houses in order to implement the original plan which was preparing 100 houses for the second generation of Felda Chini 3 settlers.
“Work on 29 units of houses is scheduled to start in September and expected to be completed within one year. We have started the efforts to revive this project for the past few years but it has taken us some time before Felda obtained the allocation.
“In fact, the incumbent Chini assemblyman, the late Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Harun did regularly voice the issue during state assembly sitting and I have visited the project site with him,” he said when met here today.
Commenting on the chronology of the project, Wan Rosdy said the appointment of the contractors to build 100 units of the single-storey houses was made in September 2013 while the Felda has issued a final warning notice in January 2018 (to the contractors) with a termination of the contract was issued four months later.
He said that efforts to revive the project took quite some time as Felda needed to discuss it with the Ministry of Economic Affairs for the fund allocation before bringing it to the Ministry of Finance for approval.
“The efforts have been made since the late Abu Bakar was still around although the issue has been politicised due to the Chini state by-election.
“I was informed that the late Abu Bakar who was a member in Felda’s board of directors had frequently brought up the issue, but sadly he will not see the results of his struggles,” he said.
The Chini state by-election on July 4 is a three-cornered fight between Barisan Nasional’s Mohd Sharim Md Zain,v41, and two independent candidates, businessman Tengku Datuk Zainul Hisham Tengku Hussin, 64, and blogger Mohd Shukri Mohd Ramli, 49.
The by-election is being held following the death of Abu Bakar, 60, on May 7 at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital due to a heart attack.
— BERNAMA
