BENTONG: Creating a visionary garden city and solving everyday issues affecting the public – such as rising living costs and recurring flood problems – are issues that Barisan Nasional candidate Tan Sri Liow Tiong Lai has pledged to resolve in order to build a “greater Bentong”.
“It is my hope to ensure Bentong progresses into a garden city of KL or greater Bentong, whereby we will raise the standard of living of locals here together,” said Liow during a press conference at Wisma MCA Pahang here.
His election manifesto is a vision of more than 10 plans to develop the Pahang township as well as be an effective parliamentarian.
As part of his plans to assist locals in addressing the spike in the cost of living, Liow wants to encourage more eateries to provide food with affordable pricing, to set up a food bank in Bentong to distribute basic necessities to the poor, and to ensure that welfare is rendered to the needy.
Liow also wants to assist locals in increasing their household income by starting online businesses and encouraging more people to enter the agriculture sector.
“We can get experts to come to Bentong and teach our farmers how to yield crops that are more lucrative,” added Liow.
To promote Bentong products, he wants to set up a one-stop centre for farmers to sell their goods to locals and tourists.
Meanwhile, Liow also wants to assist local micro-entrepreneurs to apply for financial assistance up to RM10,000 under the I-Push scheme of the Pahang government.
On floods, he said perennial floods had been an issue in Bentong, and he has several mitigation plans to work on, among them repairing problematic drains across the township as well as widening and deepening rivers near flood hotspots.
“This (floods) issue was very close to my heart when I was the four-term MP, and we must continue flood mitigation plans,” added Liow.
He voiced the need to implement flood prevention efforts in high-risk housing areas, the importance of constructing dams at downriver locations, and setting up an action team to render immediate assistance to victims.
The former four-term Bentong MP also wants to ensure that early warnings for landslides are included in the Pahang 2023 Budget.
On affordable housing units in Bentong, he said more should be built via the state government’s initiative, the new generation Felda settlers housing project (PGBF), and the PR1MA (Perumahan Rakyat 1Malaysia) housing project.
There are also plans to fix issues with basic infrastructure, such as old public buildings, roads that are in bad shape, internet that works well and clean water.
At the same time, Liow wants to turn the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) station into a tourism attraction and encourage more youths to return to Bentong.
“We also have plans to make the ECRL and the Central Spine Road a logistics hub because there is an industrial area near the ECRL and it is a new area we can develop together after the construction of the ECRL station in 2026.
“I will set up a new plan to study this to ensure that the ECRL and the Central Spine Road become economic multipliers,” said Liow at the manifesto launch yesterday.
Youths will also not be left out, as Liow wants to set up an esports centre in Bentong with high-speed internet, form a Bentong esports team and organise more competitions in the township.
There are also plans to build a sports complex in Bentong that will have a mini stadium, a sports track, a football field, futsal courts and other sports facilities.
Liow also said he is currently discussing with several local universities plans to assist youths in furthering their studies after the SPM and STPM.
“In short, Bentong has the potential to be a greater and better Bentong,” he added.
