ALOR STAR: Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has called for a stop to the practice of scrapping good projects every time there is change of government.
Stressing that the practice has derailed the development in Kedah for decades, Sanusi said the succeeding government should not scrap projects approved by the previous administration without carrying out proper studies on their benefits.
Citing an example, Sanusi said at one time, the state government had approved a project to develop a mixed local fruits plantation in Charok Genting Bunga, Pokok Sena.
"The plan was to develop a fruit plantation as a tourism attraction product. We approved a land usage permit covering over 700 acres (over 280ha) of land for the project.
"However, when there was a change of government, the project was scrapped and turned into a rubber plantation instead.
"Since it was turned into a rubber plantation; who is interested in visiting a rubber estate?" Sanusi said in his speech during an event in the state recently that was uploaded on his Facebook page today.
Thus, he said the scrapping policy should not be made a practice, as projects that were planned by any administration would have taken in all reasonable factors into consideration and suited with a particular locality.
"I hope this will no longer be a practice although the move to change the government is ongoing, but all the good things initiated by those who preceded us should be allowed to continue.
"That is why, since 2020 (after assuming the post), I was determined that all projects that have been planned in the state, in every district, in every locality, those reasonable projects that are good for the people should be implemented without disturbance because all the projects underwent due process before they were announced," he said.
Sanusi added that he hoped that any leader who succeeds him in the future would adopt the same policy.
