Kuala Terengganu A City On Jan 1 Next Year
April 25, 2007 23:02 PM
KUALA TERENGGANU, April 25 (Bernama) -- Kuala Terengganu will be elevated to a city on Jan 1 next year and be known as the Heritage Water Front City, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said Wednesday.
He said Kuala Terengganu would be accorded the status since the town fulfilled the eight main criteria of being a city.
"Kuala Terengganu is the state's administrative centre, has a population of not less than 300,000 people, experiences rapid economic growth, is a business and industrial centre and has strong financial institutions.
"The town also has institutions of higher learning and colleges, is rich in history and is a centre for cultural activities," he told reporters after chairing the weekly state executive council meeting, here.
However, he said, Kuala Terengganu had yet to meet one of the criteria for city status, which was related to revenue-earning capacity.
"To be accorded city status, Kuala Terengganu has to have a revenue collection of at least RM80 million a year but that will not be a problem since Alor Star and Kuching Utara were given city status although their revenue collection has yet to reach the required amount," he said.
Idris said the revenue collected by Kuala Terengganu was only RM40 million a year but this did not hamper development of the town as allocations were provided by the state government for the purpose, as well as from the federal government which amounted to more than RM80 million.
He said the state government would submit an official appplication to the federal government for Kuala Terengganu to be accorded city status.
-- BERNAMA