> Selangor MB to meet PM

Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim today said he will meet Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to discuss the development of the state due to the impact of the establishment of Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur.

He said the establishment of Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur had a good effect on Selangor but that at the same time it led to traffic congestion as many people lived in Selangor but worked in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

Abdul Khalid was speaking to reporters during the recess of the state assembly sitting here today.

"We want to work with the Federal Government to ensure the efficiency and the effectiveness of the transport system in order for the state to continue its development," he said.

Beside that, Abdul Khalid said the state government will discuss with the federal government on the management of rivers as both Selangor and Kuala Lumpur shared rivers like Sungai Gombak and Sungai Klang.

He said the state government also wanted to discuss the issue of foreign worker from the security aspect.

Abdul Khalid also said as the new state government it wanted to look into the use of the RM800 million allocated by the federal government to develop the Sepang district after 4,931 hectares of the district, now known as Putrajaya, was handed over to the federal government.

The state government wanted to know if the RM800 million allocation under the Eighth Malaysia Plan had been used fully or not or had been forwarded to the Ninth Malaysia Plan, he said.

Earlier, during the question and answer session, Abdul Khalid said the state government will honour the agreement with the federal government to transfer Putrajaya to the federal government.

Dr Shafie Abu Bakar (PAS-Bangi) in his supplementary question had asked if the state government would review the agreement as he felt that the annual payment of RM7.5 million by the federal government for giving up Putrajaya in perpetuity was small.

As such, Shafie suggested that Putrajaya only be "leased" to the federal government so that payment can be made according to prevailing prices - Bernama.