RM300,000 for food basket programme not sufficient to cover whole of Puncak Borneo – MP

Willie Mongin

KUCHING (July 3): Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Willie Mongin said the RM300,000 allocation per MP for the food basket programme is not sufficient to cover his constituency.

The Puncak Borneo MP said based on the guidelines and the RM100 per food basket set by the government’s terms and conditions, only 3,000 households could receive the aid.

“As the fund may only able to cover 3,000 households, we have to focus only on the targeted group.

“We will use this fund to assist targeted groups like those households that are under Covid-19 quarantine, hardcore poor and registered under e-Kasih, the B40 group, those who have lost their jobs and need food assistance,” he said.

Willi also said it might be impossible to follow fully the food item guidelines set by the Sarawak State Federal Development Office (SDO).

The list from the federal government specified 13 types of items, namely 10kg of rice, two 1kg-bottles of cooking oil, two 1kg-packs of sugar, two bags of wheat flour (850g to 1kg per bag), two tins of condensed milk at 500g to 550g each, one bag of salt at 400g to 450g, two packs of meehoon at 350g to 400g, one bottle of sweet soy sauce at 600ml to 700ml, one bottle of chilli sauce at 300g to 400g, two tins of sardines at 400g to 425g, one pack of tea at 100g to 150g, one pack of coffee at 100g to 150g, and one pack of biscuits at 350g to 450g for each food basket.

He opined that the list was a bit impossible to follow in Sarawak in view of high cost of goods, packing and transportation.

He hoped the SDO can allow some flexibility on the number of items in each basket.

“We have suggested to the SDO for 1 bag of 10kg rice, one can of Sardine 425g, one can of chicken curry 285g, one pack of cream crackers 428g, one pack of Milo 3-in-1, and three pack-of-fives of Maggie instant noodles.

“Maybe with this list of items, we can cover more households in Puncak Borneo,” he said.

Willie said the RM300,000 allocation has been disbursed to his office yesterday.

from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3wfjVOL
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