KOTA KINABALU: The hardcore poor in Sabah has dropped to 13,172 households as of last March 24 compared to 22,510 households three years ago, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
Citing the hardcore poor in the Tuaran district, he said the number had dropped to 600 households last month, from 1,000 households three years ago.
He said the drop in the number of hardcore poor households showed efforts by the government to help the poor and that eliminating poverty would continue to be a priority in developing the state.
“In planning large-scale development, we do not forget the poor. We have the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) secretariat, tasked with dealing with the issue of poverty in Sabah,“ he said in a statement here today.
Hajiji said among the initiatives implemented to help the poor was the construction of Rumah Mesra SMJ, where 1,500 houses are given to those categorised as hardcore poor in the e-kasih list.
. “Every state constituency is allocated 20 houses, so now there are already 3,000 houses given to the poor on the e-kasih list.
“This means that the government views the problem of hardcore poverty seriously and works hard to help them through various ways, not only through providing houses but also to start small businesses so that their number can be reduced,” he said.
