A year on after Teluk Intan MP Mah Siew Keong won his parliamentary seat, there's been little progress on the election promises he made during the by-election in May last year, claims his rival Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud.

 

“Residents and voters in Teluk Intan must be wondering, what is the latest status of the development and upgrading plans promised ,” she said in a statement today.

 

Among the BN promises she is questioning include setting up WiFi zones and upgrading of broadband services.

 

Dyana ( photo ), who is also the political secretary to DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, said although Teluk Intan is listed on TM’s website as within the coverage area of its Unifi broadband service, surveys of the area found that the service does not exist.

 

In addition, with regards with the building of a university, Dyana said the land that has been earmarked of the project has yet to be gazetted and is still owned by a public listed company.

 

She said Mah had also promised to turn Teluk Intan into a modern agricultural hub, but the Perak government said in 2014 that it has no such plans.

 

Meanwhile, a promised flood mitigation project for Teluk Intan is to cost RM360 million, of which only RM30 million have been approved.

 

Dyana questioned the timeline of the project and asked when the rest of the funding will be handed to the Department of Drainage and Irrigation.

 

“I hope the manifesto is not merely empty promises, and I urge that the Teluk Intan MP, who is also a senior BN minister, to deliver,” she said.

 

Mah: 70 percent fulfilled

In an interview published in Kwong Wah Yit Poh last night however, Mah claims that 70 percent of his by-election promises have been fulfilled.

 

This included land acquisition for building a Teluk Intan-based university, the construction of a river embankment and the setting up of four wifi centres at the cost of RM1.2 million, he said in an interview.

 

He said although the university project is proceeding slowly, its original 20 acre project site has been expanded to 80 acres and approval for this was given just last month.

 

The project would proceed once its RM40 million in funding is approved as well, he said.

 

As for Teluk Intan’s river embankment, he said the government has allocated RM7.5 million for the upgrade from mud embankments to stone embankments, and the works are already underway,

 

Meanwhile, he said Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek ( photo ) has promised him that the broadband infrastructure would be completed by 2016.

 

Apart from projects that Dyana highlighted, Mah also boasted various other achievements during his term.

 

This includes successfully lobbying for an exit at Teluk Intan for a proposed 200 kilometre highway between Selangor and Perak, and that a mini stadium in the constituency would be completed by the end of the year.

 

The Teluk Intan by-election took place on May 31 last year following the death of its incumbent MP Seah Leong Peng.

 

The election was a straight race between Teluk Intan native Mah and first-time election candidate Dyana, with Mah winning by 238 votes and wresting the seat away from DAP.

 

Prior to this, Mah had already served two terms as Telok Intan MP before DAP won the seat during the 2008 general election.