PUTRAJAYA, Oct 12 — The second temporary shelter for foreign children known as Baitul Mahabbah will be opened in Sabah next month, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

Baitul Mahabbah is an initiative by the Home Ministry (KDN), under the supervision of the Immigration Department, to ensure the safety of children placed in immigration detention centres while waiting for the documentation process by their respective embassies to be completed.

The first shelter was opened in September at the civil servants housing complex near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan.

Speaking to newsmen after attending the ministry’s monthly gathering and Innovation Day celebration here, today, Saifuddin Nasution said two more shelters worth RM10 million are in the pipeline, one each in Sarawak and the Peninsula.

In a separate development, Saifuddin Nasution said the Immigration Department has collected RM595 million in levy through the Labour Recalibration Programme (RTK) 2.0 so far, adding that a total of 700,000 foreign workers have registered under the programme, which will expire on December 31.

"No registration of foreign migrants will be accepted after December 31 but the application verification process will continue,” he said, urging employers who have yet to register their foreign workers to do so within these two months.

On January 10, the government announced the implementation of RTK 2.0 and the Relaxation Plan for Hiring Foreign Workers as a measure to meet the needs of employers in five critical sectors namely manufacturing, construction, plantation, agriculture and services (restaurants). — Bernama