by AFIQ AZIZ / pic by BERNAMA

THE Selangor government has disbursed RM24.7 million for six initiatives as part of the Kita Selangor Package.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said 32% of the RM73.4 million package, which was introduced as part of the state’s project to mitigate the Covid-19 impact last year, has been distributed to the target groups.

He said among the programmes that have been implemented are the food assistance project to more than 14,000 frontline workers; the write-off of 762 education loans under Yayasan Selangor; and rental exemption for the state’s affordable homes project for 2,365 households.

Selangor also distributed a total of RM2 million worth of aid to Terengganu, Kelantan and Pahang to assist the respective state governments in managing the flood crisis early this year.

Amirudin said 14 more initiatives are yet to be completed under the Kita Selangor Package.

“Other ongoing initiatives will be updated from time to time and are being monitored at the Smart Selangor Operation Centre (SSOC),” Amirudin said in a media conference at SSOC data centre in Shah Alam yesterday.

Connected to local councils in the state, SSOC will gather and process data relating to security, health, economy and state facilities with an aim to improve efficiencies in its delivery systems.

The system will also allow the state to track down all its initiatives accordingly.

Meanwhile, Amirudin said the state vaccination programme is also on track with up to 900 people vaccinated as of Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, another 1,000 frontliners were inoculated yesterday, making the total of more than 2,000 people in the state having received the jab.

After being inoculated last week, Amirudin announced that Selangor will receive 78,000 doses of the Pfizer Inc-BioNTech SE Covid-19 vaccine in the Phase 1 of the National Immunisation Programme.

He said frontliners from the healthcare sector, as well as security agencies such as the police and armed forces, district officers and local council presidents will be inoculated within the next few months.

State-wide, there are 70 vaccine dispensing centres (VDCs) based in 14 hospitals and 56 health clinics.

“Selangor has 68,000 frontliners, of which 17,000 are non-health personnel like arm forces and district officers and more than 14,000 are workers at private hospitals, while about 36,000 are Health Ministry’s workers,” Amirudin said.

Selangor has also requested for the first batch of the vaccine to include teachers following the reopening of schools this week.

The state is also considering acquiring its own vaccine supply and the state is in discussions with several brands to purchase between two and five million doses.

Phase 1 of the immunisation programme will be conducted in government hospitals and clinics, while Phase 2 and 3 — which will see more recipients — the state Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force has started discussions with local council presidents on identifying and gazetting public spaces such as stadiums to be made into VDCs.