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Barack Obama wishes Happy Deepavali
/* October 20th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
Kg Tokong and Kg Buah Pala
/* October 17th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments » Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email This is what the developer for Kg Tokong is doing:
Hilmi said although the number of families had risen from an initial 300-odd families to around 800 families, UDA Holdings was still willing to compensate them, noting that it was now processing some 200 new applications for compensation.
He said UDA was offering temporary occupancy licence (TOL) holders a 850-sq ft three-room apartment together with moving cost to the transit homes, while their extended families are being offered a 750-sq ft apartment unit.
“Those renting units in the village are also being offered a 45% discount to purchase the apartment units,” he said.
UDA Holdings managing director Datuk Jaafar Abu Hassan hopes to conclude discussions with all the affected 833 families by December, adding that it will start work on the project by the first quarter of next year.
“Almost 90% of the affected families have agreed in principle with our compensation packages.
“ We are confident we can conclude talks with the rest of them soon,” he said.
UDA Holdings plans to build low and medium-cost flats, apartments, condominiums and commercial buildings with a gross sales value of between RM800mil and RM1bil on a 9.6ha site in the village.
Jaafar said the project, to be conducted over four phases, would begin with the first phase, and would involve the relocation of 235 families.
“So far, 174 families have moved into transit homes that we built for them. “We are in the midst of building another 80 units of transit homes for the remaining families,” he said.
I’m not sure if the residents there are into animal rearing as in Kg Buah Pala, so maybe no issue on relocation of farms.
It looks to me the developer for Kg Tokong offered a good deal for the residents – apartment for TOL owners AND the extended families. If each apartment is about RM45,000, that will be RM37.485 million. For Kg Buah Pala, the deals was good too – a 1200 sqft double storey house, but only for the TOL holders. One more difference is that for Kg Tokong, the residents have been provided transit homes while waiting for the project to complete.Whereas in Kg Buah Pala, a nominal sum was offered as relocation cost. Even those renting houses in Kg Tokong are given 45% discount to buy the apartments later.
Its worthy to note that the two projects are of different nature- Kg Tokong to have a mixed development project while Kg Buah Pala to be an exclusive condominium project.
In terms of developers, UDA Holdings is well established company, while Nusmetro has lots of unanswered questions.
KPI for MIC branches
/* October 17th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments » Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email MIC boss Samy Vellu announces two new initiatives. One is a KPI for all leaders, specifically for the branches, and secondly, leadership workshop for 150 division leaders. He also mentioned that new members can register online via MIC’s website. However, I can’t find the link to register online till today.
MIC will implement the Key Performance Index (KPI) on all its leaders, particularly its 3,600 branch chairpersons by early next year to gauge their performances, said party president S Samy Vellu today.
He said that although the KPI initiative was mooted several years ago, it could not be implemented, “but now it has become necessary to ensure the party is run more effectively, especially at the grassroots”.
Samy Vellu said the role of branch chairpersons was crucial as the party depended on them to implement its policies and programmes at the grassroots level.
“They branch chairpersons will be evaluated every three months,” he said in a statement.
He said the KPI would also apply to the party’s top leaders and elected representatives in stages.
“We want to know the extent of their contact with the people and how they are performing,” he said, adding that a monitoring team would be established at the MIC headquarters.
Samy Vellu also said the MIC would organise a leadership workshop for its nearly 150 party divisional leaders on Nov 15 this year followed by a series of meetings throughout the country with state and branch leaders.
“This time, we will also invite community leaders and non-governmental organisations in the meeting because they are our partners in social work,” he said.
He said the party embarked on a transformation process since the last general election starting with its rebranding exercise and followed by amendments to its constitution last month.
The amendments include limiting the term of party president and divisional leaders to just nine years or three terms and lowering the number of members before a branch can be set up, from 100 previously to 60.
Samy Vellu said new members could also register via online through the MIC portal and perhaps soon through SMS.
“We are making many changes and more will come in order to strengthen our party,” he added.
800ha land allocated for Indian education fund in Perak
/* October 17th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments » Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email This article came out on Star few days ago. The BN state government also allocated 2000ha for Islamic religious schools aid and 1000ha for private Chinese school aid. The aim is to use the proceeds from the cultivation of the land via an education fund to help the poor students.
It is indeed a good news. We can only hope that capable people are given the trust to manage the land, and all the three lands receive similar returns.
In what is seen as a Deepavali gift, the Perak government has announced the allocation of 800ha of land to generate funds for an Indian education fund in the state.
Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said earnings from the land, to be cultivated with oil palm by the Perak Foundation, would be channelled into the fund (Tabung Pendidikan dan Pengupayaan Pendidikan Kaum India) for distribution to poor students.
“I hope this will come as good news for the Indians who will be celebrating Deepavali tomorrow.
This is the state government’s commitment to ensure that all races facing problems related to education are given aid,” he told reporters after attending the 2009 Umno General Assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) here.
He said the state government had also allocated 2,000ha for the benefit of more than 700 Islamic religious schools and 1,000ha to aid private Chinese schools.
Deepaval Valthukal!
/* October 17th, 2009 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments » Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email Wishing all Hindus a joyous, happy, memorable, awesome and spiritual festival of lights with your loved ones.
Let the light in us enlighten others!
As we celebrate a special Deepavali, one that falls on the last Saturday of Puratasi month, let us spare some time and thought for the less fortunate.
I had a busy day today, till couldn’t find time to reply to all the SMSes, emails, and FB messages. And the phone is still giving new SMS/email/FB alert! Thank you all for the wishes and hope you guys enjoy the festival as well. Hope can reply tomorrow. Tired from shopping, house cleaning, and visiting relative.
Just came back from relative’s house. Had two interesting incidents to relate.
First one: a few teenagers, drunk, were lighting firecrackers in front of, not their house, but my relatives house. Really a nuisance, and other neighbors worried about damages to the vehicles parked outside. Anyway, the elders in that family returned home, and my relative talked to them to advise the youths.
Second incident: a drunk motorcyclist nearly had a last date with my car on the way back. Luckily the Gods were smiling on him.
I guess you know where this is leading to. 🙂
While we enjoy the festive season with much merry, remember to SAY NO TO ALCOHOL. You’ll never know when you cross the limit. It may be to late when you realise it.
Oh ya, forgot to add, I’m wondering what happened to my Member of Parliament. He put up a big banner at my residential area for Hari Raya (and this place has probably about 10% Malay population!). I can’t find any banner for Deepavali wishes (Indian population here is estimated to be about 15 to 20%). Either he had ordered too many banners for Raya until don’t know where to put, or he ordered too little banners for Deepavali until not enough 🙂
hmm…did anyone notice this year’s Deepavali programs on TV are a bit more than previous years?
