THE federal government has approved RM5.3 million for the construction of an exit road for the Kota Baru-Kuala Krai Expressway in Phase 1B, involving the Pasir Hor-Kadok route in the Kelantan capital.

State Federal Action Council chairman Mustapa Mohamed said the exit road is necessary for the first phase of the 10.5km expressway, which was completed last year, before it can be opened to the public.

“To ensure it (expressway) does not become a white elephant, we applied for an allocation to construct the exit road. This has been approved, and (construction) work is expected to be done in six months,” he told reporters after a council meeting at the state federal development office in Kota Baru today.

Earlier, Mustapa, who is also international trade and industry minister, presented awards to three students with the best Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia results in the country.

He said the state Barisan Nasional will work hard to prevent the Pengkalan Kubor state seat from falling into PAS’ hands in the 14th general election.

He said Kelantan folk want to see change, which the Islamist party has failed to bring about despite ruling the state for 28 years.

“We are confident about maintaining the 12 state seats won by BN (in GE13), including Pengkalan Kubor, and possibly, we’ll win other seats, too.”

Yesterday, Menteri Besar Ahmad Yakob, who is also state PAS commissioner, said the party will work hard to wrest Pengkalan Kubor from BN. – Bernama, March 11, 2018.