In Kepala Batas, Ismail Sabri uses ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ as olive branch to Penang voters

SEBERANG PERAI, Nov 2 — Caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri today said he prioritised a public housing project here in Penang, which was under federal Opposition, as his Keluarga Malaysia concept was based on unity.

At the groundbreaking ceremony for a RM170 million public housing project (PPR), a RM7 million mosque and a RM45 million Kepala Batas Youth Centre in Kepala Batas, he said these would benefit residents of the constituency, particularly the lower income groups.

“Even though Penang is an Opposition state, I have set aside the political differences to prioritise development for the sake of Keluarga Malaysia,” he said.

“I just found out that these projects are in a state constituency held by the Opposition, not under us, but we don’t look at this, we approve projects here for the sake of the people,” he said in his speech at the ground-breaking ceremony here today.

The projects were under the Kepala Batas parliamentary constituency held by Barisan Nasional and within the Pinang Tunggal state seat controlled by the rival Pakatan Harapan.

Ismail said the fact that the federal government was launching projects here showed its sincerity in serving Malaysians.

He called on the people to continue to vote for his coalition based on this sincerity, so that it could continue to roll out programmes to benefit all Malaysians.

The federal government has approved many projects for Kepala Batas, he said, mainly due to the performance of its incumbent MP Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican.

He said the caretaker housing and local government minister was a hard worker and should remain as the MP for Kepala Batas.

“If you elect him to be the MP here again, I promise to appoint him as a minister again, if we remain as the government,” he said to loud applause from the crowd.

Earlier, he said the public housing project (PPR) in Kepala Batas will consist of 700 units of flats that included amenities located on 20 acres of Penang Regional Development Authority (Perda) land.

He said the cost to build the flats was RM161,000 a unit but they will be sold at RM45,000 each.

He said the government subsidised a total RM81.2 million for the project.

As for the mosque, he said it is built through a cost-sharing method where the federal government allocated RM4 million while the state allocated RM2 million and the remaining RM1 million is raised through the mosque’s development fund collection.

He said the Kepala Batas Youth Centre (KBYC), costing RM45 million, will be built on 25 acres of land.

The KYBC is a one-stop centre for youth and sport activities and is equipped with hostels, synthetic football and track fields, e-sport hall, music room, gymnasium, jogging track and other facilities.