THE Finance Ministry today announced that the government has agreed to directly channel special assistance amounting to RM260 million to all state governments.

Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said the aid will be distributed equally, namely RM20 million to each state for the immediate implementation of small projects to revive the local economy at the grassroots level.

“These small projects that will be dedicated to class G1 to G4 contractors include repair of public infrastructure and facilities, road repairs, social amenity programmes, repair of public housing, as well as maintenance of business premises to ensure small traders and hawkers have a conducive environment to do business in local authority areas,” he said in a statement today.

Due to the government’s concern for the people, he said, the government had increased the allocation for small-scale projects in 2021 through the Strategic Programme to Empower the People and the Economy (Pemerkasa) to further boost the activities of small-scale projects at the state and grassroots levels.

Zafrul said the distribution of special assistance under Pemerkasa is in line with the announcement of the package by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on March 17. – Bernama, March 20, 2021.