KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — Domestic Trade and Consumer Affair Minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub today proposed that the government creates a hypermarket that sells affordable goods.
In a Parliamentary response, the minister said that the government can engage the business community to create such a project that would help the lower-income group.
“For the long-term planning, I’m thinking that if hypermarket companies that are not only domestic but multinational such as Lotus and Aeon Big, why don’t we try to create affordable supermarkets?
“I have visited the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) there are hypermarkets that sell affordable items because the expensive items are branded but the quality remains the same, and the profit is also quite tempting.
“God willing we will have more involvement, we have many billionaires in our country, why don’t they invest in supermarkets to benefit the people,” he said during additional questions during the Question and Answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
The minister said this while responding to an additional question from Cha Kee Chin (PH-Rasah) who asked whether the ministry’s Jualan Rahmah initiative will continue.
