SHAH ALAM, 1st July: Rural Development programmes which is going to be spotlight of the State Government this term will target efforts to increase per capita income of villagers across Selangor.
This is because according to the Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, there is a very wide income gap between urban and rural communities despite Selangor being a rapidly developing state.
He said this in a reply to a supplementary question from Yaakob Sapari (PKR-Kota Anggerik) regarding the main focus of the State Government towards rural development plans in the Selangor State Assembly (DNS) session here today.
“This programme is based on a concept which we will see if successful, there will be an increase in per capita income of villagers.
“Because the income gap is too high, the State Government is finding a way to intensify efforts to increase revenue,” he said.
Elaborating, Abdul Khalid said that the programme was inspired by the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat (PR) shortly after the 13th General Election (GE-13) which took place last May.
As a first step, he said that the State Government will ask all village heads, including Chinese and Indian traditional villages, to jointly involve in this matter.
He explained that the use of funds for rural development will only be presented through the State Budget in November.
“It is implemented as a group where each village will be asked to make plans and from the results, a programme will be held just as planned.
“The villages which will be given priority is still unknown because we are still in the initial stages,” he added.