THE office of the state Sports and Youth Committee will seek a bigger budget to ensure there are adequate sports facilities in all five districts in the state, according to state executive councillor Soon Lip Chee.
He made this announcement during a visit to a recently completed basketball court at Taman Kejiranan Macallum in George Town today.
Also present were Pengkalan Kota assemblyman Daniel Gooi, MPKK Lebuh Macallum chairman Ch’ng Chin Keat, Northeast District representative Mohammad Hadi Mahazir and contractor Nizam Abdul Malik.
Soon stated that since assuming the role of executive councillor in 2018, a total of RM2.26 million has been spent on constructing or upgrading 17 sports facilities for the benefit of the people.
The basketball court at Taman Kejiranan Macallum, costing approximately RM271,000, was one of the recent projects.
The construction of the 902sq metre basketball court was done by contractor Chiquinta Maju Enterprise, taking less than two months from Oct 25, 2022 to Dec 15, 2022.
“We hope with the availability of this basketball court, the state can nurture excellent players.
“Initially we had earlier planned for a badminton court here, but after conducting a survey, we found that it would be more beneficial to the people here to have a basketball court,” Soon added.
Gooi said he was glad that his request made two years ago for a basketball court was finally approved by Soon and has now become a reality.
He explained that there was a basketball court built nearby in the past, but it was later converted into a car park area due to a lack of space for the residents.
The new basketball court, he said, has been well utilised by the youths in the area, especially students from a nearby school.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi