US$28.4 MLN ALLOCATION TO ASSIST URBAN POOR

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Najib Razak Friday
announced a RM100 million (US$28.4 million) government allocation in the form of
trust fund shares to assist the urban poor improve their lot.

The prime minister said the government was now compiling data on the urban
poor and hardcore poor to determine those eligible to receive the aid.

"The assistance is to enable the poor increase their income, especially the
hardcore poor," he said at the breaking of fast with city residents organised by
the Al-Bukhary Foundation at the Al-Bukhary Mosque here, Friday night.

Najib said the Federal Territories Ministry was also offering for sale,
housing units from the Public Housing Projects (PPR) to the poor in Kuala Lumpur
and the sale would start on Oct 10.

Najib said the house sale offer was something that the urban poor had been
waiting for and it showed the government's relentless effort to improve their
standard of living.

The prime minister said poverty should not only be linked to the rural areas
as the problem also existed in the urban areas, while the measurement of
poverty between the two areas differed.

"For example, life can be quite comfortable for a household with a monthly
income of RM2,000 in smaller town of Baling in Kedah or Pekan in Pahang. But it
is not so in the cities," he said.

Najib said the government would continue with efforts to eradicate poverty.
-- BERNAMA