THE Seberang Perai City Council (MBSP) has outlined its key priorities for the 2024 Budget, focusing on four core areas to enhance the city’s sustainability and liveability.
MBSP mayor Datuk Azhar Arshad said the budget, themed ‘Seberang Perai as a Sustainable and Conducive City’ (Seberang Perai Bandaraya Mampan Dan Kondusif), was developed using the Gender Responsive and Participatory Budgeting (GRPB) approach.
“Under the 2024 Budget, MBSP places an emphasis on improving MBSP services.
“The first core priority is creating a conducive environment. It gets the second-highest allocation of RM127.98 million.
“The second core priority is ensuring cleanliness, greenery and city safety. This is accorded the highest allocation of RM186.47 million.
“The third core priority focuses on community involvement for economic stimulus. An allocation of RM50.15 million will be set for initiatives aimed at stimulating the local economy through community engagement.
“Lastly, the fourth core priority is to empower the delivery system services. It gets an allocation of RM13.89 million,” Azhar said after chairing a full council meeting where he presented the Budget 2024 at the MBSP headquarters building in Bandar Perda, Bukit Mertajam recently.
Azhar said MBSP’s projected expenses for 2024 amount to RM378.49 million against an estimated revenue of RM339.66 million. This may result in a deficit budget of RM38.82 million for the upcoming year.
He said the components of the total estimated revenue collection (RM339.66 million) include tax revenue (RM243.26 million), non-tax revenue (RM84.89 million) and non-revenue receipts (RM11.50 million).
He added that the deficit budget underlines the huge responsibility that MBSP bears in serving the Seberang Perai community and promoting development on the mainland.
However, he said MBSP remains committed to controlling the deficit through prudent financial management, emphasising principles such as maximising value for expenditure, process automation and efficient financial management without compromising service quality.
According to Azhar, MBSP has allocated RM1.4 million for the maintenance of public markets and food complexes, electricity bills (RM2.45mil), water bills (RM1.73mil) and Indah Water Konsortium bills (RM390,000).
He also said RM300,000 had been allocated for road repairs under the jurisdiction of the city council.
“MBSP also has allocated RM1.3 million to instal closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) and another RM1.25 million for CCTVs maintenance across Seberang Perai.
“The city council also has allocated RM2.2 million to convert all streetlights (under MBSP) in Seberang Perai from high-pressure sodium lights to light-emitting diodes (LEDs). This will reduce 60% of electricity consumption.
“And another RM2 million allocation is for maintenance cost of streetlights under the city council.
“We will also allocate RM1.7 million to upgrade several public recreational areas, including Vision Park in Kepala Batas, Kolam Teratai in Taman Seri Rambai (Bukit Mertajam) and Taman Idaman in Simpang Ampat.
“Other allocations include tipping fees for waste disposal at Pulau Burong (RM17mil), waste transfer and transport at Ampang Jajar (RM5mil), loan repayments and interest for solid waste management and public cleaning (RM5.63mil), landscaping projects (RM1.2mil), upgrading project of Taman Pantai in Butterworth (RM300,000), community centre construction at Pasar Awam Bukit Panchor in Nibong Tebal (RM200,000) and ex-gratia payment to MBSP employees involved in accidents while on duty (RM220,000),” he said.
For more details and a full list of the budget, the public can go to MBSP official website at https://www.mbsp.gov.my/ .
Story by Riadz Akmal
Pix by Noor Siti Nabilah Noorazis