ID :
73384
Sat, 08/01/2009 - 21:15
Auther :

FED GOVT LOOKING INTO KELANTAN OIL ROYALTY ISSUE - PM

KOTA BAHARU (Malaysia), Aug 1 (Bernama) -- The federal government is looking
into the question of oil royalty for opposition-ruled northeast state of
Kelantan, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Saturday.

He said the matter was still under study because of overlapping areas in the
vicinity of the oil platform.

"When the study has been completed, I will send a representative to convey
the result of the study to the state government," he told reporters in this
capital of Kelantan state.

Kelantan is seeking RM1 billion in oil royalty from the federal government,
claiming that the money constituted five per cent of the earnings from petroleum
and liquefied natural gas extracted from offshore Kelantan since 2004 as per a
report of the Statistics Department.

Najib had an unscheduled meeting, for about 20 minutes, with Kelantan Chief
Minister Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, upon his arrival at the Sultan Ismail Petra
airport in Pengkalan Chepa, near here.

Najib also said that other matters discussed at the meeting with Nik Aziz
were the construction of a port in Tumpat in Kelantan and a flyover as well as
tourism.

He said it would be preferrable for the port construction to be considered
as a project under the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) development plan while
the flyover project had been approved but a few matters had to be resolved, such
as the supply of building materials.

Najib said the state government did not hand him any official document at
today's meeting and that he welcomed the unscheduled meeting with Nik Aziz as
he regarded it as the start of cooperation.

"I took the opportunity of telling Nik Aziz that it is better for us to
avoid hurting the feelings of anyone," he said.

Recently, Nik Aziz had used the words "Pergi Jahanamlah Umno" (Go to Hell,
Umno), and this had hurt the feelings of Umno leaders and members. Umno (United
Malays National Organisation) is the party leading the ruling National Front
(BN).
-- BERNAMA


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