Assistance programme recipients dissatisfied with house repairs
MIRI: Some Housing Assistance Programme ( PBR) recipients under e-Kasih in Telang Usan are dissatisfied with the repairs on their houses implemented under the programme.
Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau said he had received numerous complaints from constituents.
“The PBR project is funded by the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development through the Community Wellbeing Development Scheme (SPKR) for e-Kasih recipients.
“Under this project, an allocation of around RM12,500 would be given to the successful applicants for house repair purposes,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
According to Dennis, there were some cases in his constituency where the allocation was not fully channelled to house repairs, citing the example of a house in Long Bedian, which he visited recently.
“The repair works on that house only involved a few pieces of Spandek roofing and wood as well as a new door, of which in my rough calculations, the cost would not be more than RM2,000.
“Most of the funds could have gone to finance the transportation fees and the contractor’s labour charges,” he said.
He pointed out that assistance recipients deserved to benefit fully from the grants.
“It is true that the transportation fee is relatively high for the rural areas in Telang Usan constituency.
“But to me, it is really unreasonable where only a small portion was used to fund the house repair works,” he complained.
He suggested the ministry omit the need for contractors.
“It will only incur another cost if the project is handled by the contractor and, in the end, the needy people will not able to benefit totally from the programme.
“Thus, let the people in rural areas conduct the house repair works under the PBR project by themselves on a ‘gotong-royong’ (work party) basis. By involving them in the ground works of the project, they would also be more appreciative and the government’s programme would channel the welfare assistance to the people more effectively,” he added.