Transforming people’s lives
THE Communications and Multimedia Ministry’s Connecting The Unconnected (CTU) programme, particularly the move to provide Internet access to those living in remote areas, has proved to be successful.
Its secretary-general, Tan Sri Dr Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad, said CTU, a government initiative under the National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS), was being carried out in collaboration with ministries and agencies, including the Information Department and telecommunication service provider companies.
She said since the programme’s introduction in 2016, it had proved to be successful and as at April 21, 489,000 people had benefited from it.
“The government is concerned about the wellbeing of the people, especially those living in remote areas. The initiative, a brainchild of Prime Minster Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and with the support from the Chief Secretary to the government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa, had transformed people’s lives by providing them greater connectivity.
“We provide them television, Internet and radio coverage. The CTU programme, which is being implemented in five phases from 2016 to 2020, is expected to benefit 216,000 households or one million people in the remote areas by 2020,” she said after attending the Kembara Jalinan Kasih programme in Kedai Menanti on Saturday.
Sharifah Zarah said the ministry had completed 92 CTU programme-related projects in nine states — Kedah, Perak, Negri Sembilan, Johor, Terengganu, Pahang, Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak.
She said 47 telecommunication towers had been constructed and 593 satellite broadcasts were provided to the remote communities through CTU.
“For the second quarter of this year, we plan to carry out eight CTU programmes in Perak, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan, Negri Sembilan and Sabah, which will benefit 24,000 people in remote communities,” she said.
Apart from providing Internet access, Sharifah Zarah said the ministry also carried out “home improvement” projects under CTU.
She said it had built 149 houses for the poor.
She added that another 44 were under construction and were expected to be completed in two or three months.
She said Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang had the highest recipients of the housing project under CTU.
“The government aimed to reduce their burden and improve their living conditions, but this couldn’t be achieved without the cooperation from agencies under NBOS, as well as the people.”
Under the “home improvement” component of the programme, the majority of the dilapidated homes belonged to those living in the remote areas, and these homes have been transformed into better homes that are complete with important additions, such as more rooms, toilets and kitchen.
After the Kembara Jalinan Kasih programme, Sharifah Zarah visited one of the families whose house had been repaired under CTU in Kedai Menanti.
She presented food assistance to 46 poor people in the area.
The CTU programme here was launched by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki at SK Tualang Tinggi on Saturday and was attended by nearly 2,000 people.