Visits to constituencies no political ploy for popularity, says Johor MB

ISKANDAR PUTERI: Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin today dismissed talk that the visits of state government leaders to every parliamentary constituency in the state were a political ploy to gain popularly among the people.
He said the visits derived important outcomes and objectives, and he and the other leaders had the opportunity to undertake important matters more effectively.
"The visits give us an opportunity to monitor the progress of development projects and programmes which are being or will be implemented in the constituencies," he said at the state assembly sitting here.
Mohamed Khaled was replying to Suhaimi Salleh (BN-Kukup) who had wanted to know whether the visits were significant to the people or simply a popularity gimmick as alleged by certain quarters.
The mentri besar said he was satisfied with the working visits which started off on Jan 3 in the Johor Bahru constituency. In a span of four months, he said, he had visited 22 of the 26 parliamentary constituencies in the state.
He said the visits allowed for a series of announcements to be made on various initiatives to meet the needs and interests of each constituency, including the building and upgrading of roads as well as the construction of religious schools and community halls.
"These tours involved about RM1.4 billion worth of projects that are being and will be developed through funding from the state and federal governments, the private sector and government-linked companies,” he said, adding that he was confident that all the projects benefited the people.
Mohamed Khaled said he hoped that all quarters would avoid criticising every programme implemented by the government, and instead come together to help fulfil the development agenda for the people of Johor. — Bernama