ALOR SETAR, Feb 20 – Kedah Gerakan Youth today handed over a memorandum to Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak on the state government’s debts which have reached almost RM3 billion. Its chief Tan Keng Liang (Pic) said in the memorandum, the state government was urged to take appropriate measures to reduce the debt burden accumulated since it came into power in Kedah in 2008.
“According to the Auditor-General’s Report 2011, as at Dec 31 2011, the debts had reached RM2.6 billion while the state government’s cash balance stood at only RM193.22 million.
“From our investigation, we found that the RM2.6 billion did not include the RM330 million debt from the construction of Kuin (Kolej Universiti Insaniah).
Hence, the estimated debts now amount to RM2.933 billion. He said this after handing over the memorandum to the menteri besar’s special officer (Youth), Mohd Rosli Azmi at Wisma Darul Aman, here. Tan noted that the debt increase was almost 50 per cent after PAS and its allies in the opposition pact took over the state’s administration.
“We are therefore worried with the state’s financial situation as the debt amount is too high while the cash balance is less than that,” he said. Tan said the debts could be reduced if the state government had been practising prudent spending and made thorough studies before investing in any project to avoid heavy losses.
“The Kedah government said it had been spending prudently but it had bought a Mercedes S350 car at almost RM800,000, an example of it wasting public funds.
“We hope the menteri besar will look into this matter to safeguard the state’s future,” he added.
BERNAMA
