The Star Online: Metro: Central
The Star Online: Metro: Central |
| Fuad reflects on changes in the city after taking over as mayor in 2008 Posted: 19 Dec 2011 03:41 AM PST KUALA LUMPUR mayor Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail marked his third year in office on Dec 14 by pledging to turn the city into a business-friendly environment. The mayor said one of the main challenges during his three years in office was managing the rising expectations of KL residents and the demand from developers. "We have so many 'customers' and we have to give them good services. We have high expectations of our own as we want to achieve a world-class city status. However, people's expectations are rising which is why we have to work towards it," he told StarMetro. Fuad said there were also demands from the private sector, especially those who wanted more development in the capital. "We also have to be business-friendly. Some people may not want development, but, if there is no development, there is no income. We need development to improve the quality of living of the people with more jobs created. "The role of Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is to balance the two. That is our major challenge. We have to continue developing KL and we have to have better planning," he said. He added that he was proud to be able to transform and revamp DBKL's financial management over the past three years. "The financial situation was bad at that time. DBKL was going through a big deficit for the past seven to eight years before I took over and we did not have much funds. The budget at that time was about RM2.2bil, with a revenue of only a little more than RM1bil. "We had to solve the problem and changed the way we used funds, to cut cost," said Fuad. He said another achievement he was proud of was transforming of the 122-year-old Lake Gardens and renaming the park Perdana Botanical Garden. The rebranding of the Lake Gardens was part of the city's greening initiative under the Greening KL and River of Life projects. "At that time, the Lake Gardens was losing its lustre and the Government wanted us to do something as there were not many visitors. "We managed to show that we can do a good job. Now there are many couples taking their wedding photos at the park, more joggers in the morning and it has become a tourist attraction," he said of the project which is now under the second phase of the RM35mil redevelopment programme. "My vision is to see Kuala Lumpur become a developed world-class city with excellent living and working conditions, great service, comfortable and most importantly a safe one for its residents,'' he said, adding that their goal was to be among the top 20 most livable cities by 2020. "We have eight years to go before becoming a developed nation," he added. Fuad, 59, comes with more than 30 years' experience in government with seven as the head of the Subang Jaya Municipal Council. He hails from Kedah and holds a Bachelor of Arts (History) from Universiti Malaya and a Masters degree in Public International Affairs from the University of Denver, US. Fuad has served with the Public Services Department for six years before taking over as Penang Development Corporation general manager in 2003. He was appointed Housing and Local Government Ministry secretary-general in 2006 before taking over as Kuala Lumpur mayor from Datuk Ab Hakim Borhan on Dec 14, 2008. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Maiden win for Edwin at Phuket IronKids meet Posted: 19 Dec 2011 03:38 AM PST BUDDING triathlete Edwin Thiang had a taste of personal glory by chalking up his maiden victory at the Phuket IronKids that was held at the Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TLSC) in Thailand recently. The 15-year-old SMK Seafield student from Subang Jaya emerged as the boys' 14 to 15 years champion ahead of compatriot Iqmal Hakim in the 300m swim, 12km cycle and 3km run challenge. Edwin led from the start unchallenged as he went on to finish the race with a healthy one-lap advantage on the 500m running track over his closest challenger. "Going into the race, I did not know the exact strength of the field. I only realised that I had a good chance to do well when I saw other competitors lining up at the starting line," he said. Although Edwin has been competing in various junior sections of multi disciplines endurance events held in Malaysia since 2006, he has not savoured the joy of winning before the outing in Thailand. "Besides finishing third on several occasions, I have also settled for second in the past. The recent win has boosted my confidence to scale for greater heights. This year, I have joined a group of young triathletes training under the guidance of Peter Lau in Putrajaya on Sundays. We are aiming to qualify for an Asian junior meet in Japan next year," said Edwin, adding that he has increased his training frequency to over 10 separate training sessions a week over the year-end school holidays. Meanwhile, it was a memorable outing for the Malaysian and Malaysia-based athletes competing under the Triathlon Association of Malaysia (TRIAM) banner. They flexed their domination by finishing among the leading performers in their respective categories at the meet that drew a total of 210 competitors. In the girls' 12 to 13 years, defending champion Zoe Natasha Bowden spearheaded the challenge as the fastest on the seniors' course. Following her victory with a time of 41:55 on the same course at the inaugural meet earlier in April, the 12-year-old Zoe of Garden International School (GIS) retained her top position with an improved time of 39:23. Another GIS student Sian Wilson, also registered her second consecutive victory in the girls' 14 and 15 years section. In the intermediate division comprising the 150m swim, 6km cycle and 1km run course, Max Luer and Mayumi Shinozuka were the boys' and girls' nine to 11 years winners respectively. In addition, Muhammad Safiy Mohd Shamsir won the boys' six to eight years junior division covering the 50m swim, 3km cycle and 500m run. The third edition of Phuket IronKids has been scheduled for April next year. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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