RM4 mln for building project of St Ann’s Catholic Church

KUCHING: St Ann’s Catholic Church, Kota Padawan will receive RM4 million for its building project from the state and federal governments.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot said RM2 million comes from the federal government with another RM2 million matching grant from the state government.

Speaking to reporters here yesterday, Riot said he was informed of the RM2 million federal allocation by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during a meeting on Tuesday.

“He ( Najib) told me: ‘ Richard, you can tell the parishioners of St Ann Church that I have approved RM2 million for them’. True enough, I then received a copy of the letter on the allocation addressed to the church.

“Another RM2 million will come from the state government so, all in all, the church will receive RM4 million,” Riot said at a press conference after witnessing the handover of duties to new Labour Department director Jack Meredu Ko at Bangunan Sultan Iskandar here yesterday.

Riot, who is also Serian MP, said this announcement would be received as good news by St Ann Church parishioners.

Najib, during a walkabout at St Ann’s Church on Feb 9, made the pledge to assist St Ann’s Catholic Church with the building project following a request by Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuching Archbishop Dato John Ha.

He did not mention the amount, but told the 3,000- strong crowd that an announcement would be made at a later date.

Construction of St Ann’s Catholic Church began on Sept 17, 2014. The first phase scheduled for completion in April is for a proper and conducive place of worship.

There will be two other phases for the whole project costing RM19.2 million. The building fund is still short of RM8.9 million as of Feb 9.

The new church building is necessary as the existing St Ann’s Church is no longer able to accommodate the over 2,000 congregation.