The Star Online: Nation
The Star Online: Nation |
- Plans to give incentives to promote cycling culture in Putrajaya
- Needy will get a lot of attention under 2013 budget
- Highway traffic grows heavy
| Plans to give incentives to promote cycling culture in Putrajaya Posted: 26 Aug 2012 07:04 AM PDT PUTRAJAYA: Putrajaya Corporation (PPj) plans to give various incentives to encourage the culture of cycling to the work place among Putrajaya residents, said the PPj Director of City Services, Datuk Abdul Ghani Ahmad on Sunday. He said PPj planned to provide discounts to civil servants and residents here who rode bicycles to the work place when using facilities managed by the PPj such as the public parks, gymnasiums and public swimming pools. "In Putrajaya, bicycle lanes have been built and they are suitable for cycling to the work place but the response had been rather poor because of various reasons such as unsuitable weather. Thus, the cycling culture to the work place or for recreation must be developed. "PPj plans to give incentives to members of the public using normal or electric bicycles to the work place which would reduce the traffic congestion besides reducing carbon monoxide gas emission," he told reporters after launching the electric bicycle manufactured by Revolution Manufacturing Sdn Bhd here. "As far as PPj is concerned, we are committed in embracing green technology and would continue to promote cycling culture more aggressively and provide the necessary infrastructure to cater for the users. "Moving forward, PPj will continue to source for environment friendly products and services and make Putrajaya one of the liveable cities in the region," he said. - Bernama |
| Needy will get a lot of attention under 2013 budget Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:06 AM PDT BUKIT MERTAJAM: The needs of senior citizens, single parents, children, the poor, disabled and those facing social problems will receive a lot of attention under the 2013 Budget to be tabled on Sept 28. Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Datuk Heng Seai Kie said this was because the Barisan Nasional government under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was sensitive to the needs and problems faced by this group in society. "The proposals for this group are still in the process of being finalised," she said when asked about the incentives to be given by the federal government under the 2013 Budget. Heng had earlier handed over a welfare contribution to single mother Lim Lee Kheng, 29, who has to fend for herself and her four children aged between one and eight years following the death of her husband in May. Lim will receive RM400 a month under the Social Welfare Department's aid programme for children, a sewing machine under the Teman 1Azam programme and a RM2,700 grant to start a tailoring business to generate income for her family. Heng said the BN government had never neglected the needy, and was in fact sensitive to their plight, especially of the poor and disabled. She said the federal government had given out RM1.35bil in 2011 under the Social Welfare Department's various aid schemes, whereby senior citizens received the biggest portion followed by children. Heng said RM315mil was distributed under the children's aid programme last year, benefiting 98,848 recipients nationwide, including RM16mil for 5,529 recipients in Penang. She said the federal government also gave out 80,597 aid packages with the maximum worth RM5,000 each under the Teman 1Azam programme, aimed at improving the recipients' quality of life. It has benefited 1,793 families in Penang alone. Besides these, Heng said the government had approved RM18.6mil for 430 families as launching grants worth RM2,700 each for the needy interested to start a small business. Meanwhile, Heng urged care centres to get themselves registered so that they could operate according to the stipulated criteria for the safety and in the interest of the centres' residents. She said Under the Care Centre Act 1993, these care centres must be registered with three agencies, namely the local authority, Fire and Rescue Department and Health Department. There are 818 care centres registered with the Social Welfare Department, with 66 of them located in Penang. - Bernama |
| Posted: 26 Aug 2012 02:59 AM PDT PETALING JAYA: While the roads were clear in the morning, there was a spike in the number of vehicles on the North South highway late Sunday evening as holidaymakers returned after a week-long Hari Raya break. A spokesperson for the PLUS Expressway Bhd traffic monitoring centre said the flow of traffic was heavy at about 6pm compared to the smooth-flowing traffic in the afternoon. "The traffic flow is high as many are returning after the Raya break, but there is no congestion as the vehicles are still moving," he said, adding that the flow was much higher than it usually was on Sundays. He said traffic was slow-moving at several areas including between Juru and Bukit Tambun, Changkat Jering and Kuala Kangsar, the Sungai Perak rest area and the Menora tunnel. He said traffic was congested for about an hour at kilometre 269 from Putra Mahkota due to a minor accident and also from Port Dickson towards Seremban due to a stalled trailer. Malaysian Highway Authority director-general Datuk Haji Ismail Salleh said they had not expected traffic congestion on the highway as many had returned early before they start work on Monday. "Traffic has been heavy over the past few days. "It has been quite evenly distributed so we are not expecting much congestion on the highways," he said when contacted. PLUS opened 1,500 toll counters and added 3,000 personnel to handle the exodus, which was expected to see approximately 1.4 million vehicles ply the North-South Expressway. It had also increased the number of PLUS Ronda rounds during the festive period. Cranes, ambulances and personnel from the police, fire department and Civil Defence Department are also on standby at strategic locations. The latest traffic information can be obtained from Plusline's 1800-88-0000 and Twitter www.twitter.com/plustrafik, or LLM's line at 1800-88-7752 and Twitter www.twitter.com/llminfotrafik. PLUS Time Travel Advisory can be viewed at www.plus.com.my. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Nation To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan