MAKING KL FIRST CLASS CITY HIGH ON MINISTER'S LIST

KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 (Bernama) -- Making Kuala Lumpur a first class city
and housing the poor are high on the list of Federal Territories Minister Raja
Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin.

"It is part of the seven priorities which will be used to form the
ministry's Key Performance Indicators (KPI)," he said in a statement to mark his
100 days in office here Monday.

Raja Nong Chik said other than the poor, he would also focus on helping
petty traders, upgrading public transportation and listening to the problems of
city folk.
"The seven priorities have been studied by the ministry staff. We feel there
is a need to listen to the people via dialogue sessions with non-governmental
organisations (NGO) or use the Internet, utilising tools like Facebook and
Twitter."

The minister said focus would be on the urban poor particularly the
squatters who were facing problems like housing and poverty.

"I hope to tackle the squatter problem in two years by placing them in
government housing schemes for the poor (PPR). There are 4,833 squatter families
occupying government land in the city."

Raja Nong Chik said efforts were being made to tackle problems faced by
apartment residents including streamlining the role of building commissioners.
-- BERNAMA