KUALA LUMPUR: About 15,000 residents in Sarawak have benefited from the Malaysian Armed Forces’ (ATM) Jiwa Murni Programme.
Deputy Defence Minister, Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri said under the programme which began in 2009, six road construction projects had been implemented with four of these already completed.
“The other two projects are still going on and expected to be ready in the middle of this year and early next year respectively,” he said in reply to a question from Senator Lihan Jok at the Dewan Negara sitting, here, yesterday.
Abdul Rahim said four of the six projects involved the upgrading of existing logging tracks and the other two, the building of new roads.
He said to date, the Malaysian Armed Forces had built 141.2 km of roads involving the four completed projects and another 56.2 km for the two on-going projects.
Abdul Rahim said besides having a positive impact on the residents’ socio-economy, the roads built also reduced their travelling time, as well as boosted tourism and development in the respective areas. — Bernama