BANDAR PERMAISURI, Nov 12 — Affordable housing and upgrading infrastructure will be among the main agendas of Barisan Nasional (BN) and PAS candidates contesting in the Setiu parliamentary seat, if given the people’s mandate in the 15th general election (GE15).

BN candidate Abdul Rahman Mat Yasin said there is a need to provide affordable housing for residents in the area, the majority of whom are B40 and self-employed, and it is very urgent as the population grows.

He said another urgent need is to organise housing planning according to the distribution of residents here.

“Besides that, better access to Internet coverage as well as distribution and marketing centres will boost local economic activities.

“Thus, at least 1,000 affordable houses need to be built in each of the four state constituencies in the Setiu parliamentary seat within the next five years,” he told Bernama recently.

Abdul Rahman who was appointed as a Senator from 2015 to 2018 also said that Bandar Permaisuri as the administrative centre in Setiu needs to be transformed into a satellite city.

“This administrative centre is a little behind compared to other districts in Terengganu. If the infrastructure is upgraded with modern facilities, it will expedite development in rural areas,” he said.

Meanwhile, PAS candidate Shaharizukirnain Abd Kadir who is also the incumbent of Setiu parliamentary seat said he will continue to raise infrastructure issues such as mini stadiums, health clinics, police stations and sports facilities even though they have been raised several times in the Dewan Rakyat before.

“Most of the existing infrastructure is old and severely damaged which can pose a danger to users. I will continue to fight for this until the application can be approved,” he said.

Apart from Abdul Rahman and Shaharizukirnain, two other candidates contesting in Setiu are Mohamad Ngah (PH), and Wan Adnan Wan Ali (Pejuang).

A total of 107,294 registered voters are eligible to elect representatives in the area on the voting day set for next Saturday. — Bernama