Bloomberg filepix for illustration purpose only.
BANGI (May 4): Last year, the Ministry of Rural Development (KPLB) got busy repairing 8,291 homes and building 1,428 new ones under the Housing for the Hardcore Poor Project (PPRT).
This has benefited over 48,000 people categorised as poor and hardcore poor, said Rural Development deputy minister, Datuk Henry Sum Agong, to reporters after attending a KPLB monthly staff assembly and launching the KPLB Learning Hub at the Institute for Rural Development (INFRA) today.
“The ministry has also built 182.85kms of road under the Rural Roads Programme (JALB) which is benefiting 42,700 rural area residents and facilitating access to the urban area and public places,” he said.
Aside from this, 10,917 homes and 54,585 residents in rural areas have been provided with access to clean water, said Henry.
He added that in 2020, various projects – sustainable land, rural agrotech, rural farming and economic assistance, among others – were carried out by the Regional Development Authority (LKW).
He said the KPLB has spent 92% of the RM5.16 billion allocated last year for rural development.
He said that 19.5% of the population migrated from the urban area to the rural area in 2018, compared to 4.8% from the rural area to the urban area, proving that economic activity is increasing in rural areas.
Regarding the KPLB Learning Hub, he said that it is a high-quality digital learning platform similar to the Public Sector e-LEARNING (EPSA) portal.
Accessed via https://kplblearninghub.percipio.com, it will benefit KPLB employees, departments and agencies through flexible digital training programmes geared towards IR4.0.
Henry said it will be put to good use by 1,300 employees starting this month till April 2022.
He said 40% to 60% of time can be saved through the KPLB Learning Hub compared with conventional learning methods, and cost lowered while being in line with the new norm.
