Over 15,000 Hijrah Selangor borrowers defaulting on loans worth RM135mil

SHAH ALAM: The Selangor State Assembly sitting was told on Tuesday that over 15,000 Hijrah Selangor borrowers, or 22% of the overall loans amounting to RM135 million have defaulted on their repayment.

State Youth, Sports and Entrepreneurship Committee chairman Najwan Halimi (pic) said the programme had given out loans to 58,885 individuals for a total sum of RM780 million.

"So far, 78% have settled their loans but the 22% defaulters are being stubborn,” he said in response to Datuk Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi (PN-Sijangkang), who wanted an update on the Hijrah Selangor programme's number of borrowers and outstanding loans according to districts.

Najwan said as of Sept 30, the highest number of outstanding loans is in the Petaling district with RM37.8 million, followed by Hulu Langat at RM25.7 million and Gombak at RM18.2 million.

He said the state government has plans to review several angles of repayments and to identify the groups in terms of collection.

Meanwhile, state Infrastructure and Agriculture Committee chairman Izham Hashim said the Selangor government has allocated nearly RM6 million to install 790 solar light-emitting diode (LED) streetlights statewide, from last year.

"The criteria for choosing the locations include places without electricity and localities with a high rate of vandalism or thefts. The installation also focuses on accident-prone spots, isolated junctions, bridges and areas outside of Tenaga Nasional Bhd coverage," he said answering Mariam Abdullah Rashid's (PH-Meru) question.

In response to a supplementary question by Sallehen Mukhyi (PN - Sabak), on whether issues with streetlights are due to lack of allocation, data, or if there is a waiting list, Izham clarified stating the main cause of non-functioning streetlights is cable theft.

"Cable theft is rampant everywhere and replacing them takes a long time.

"All roads have streetlights as it is part of the road construction. Cable theft is the problem, there are streetlights but no power. So, we are implementing the solar light-emitting diode (LED) streetlights to maintain them," he added. -Bernama