By Norrasyidah Arshad
SHAH ALAM, Aug 1 — A total of 20,974 individuals are eligible to receive financial aid under Bantuan Kehidupan Sejahtera Selangor (Bingkas) since the application for the initiative was opened on July 1.
State executive councillor for trade and investment Dato’ Teng Chang Khim said as of July 28, the state government has spent RM6.3 million to be distributed to Bingkas recipients.
“The payment was made through the Wavpay e-wallet. Payment to 282 individuals is still being processed as the recipients’ identification card and phone number need to be rechecked,” he said at the winding-up session on the First Selangor Plan (RS-1) bill during the Selangor State Legislative Assembly here today.
Bingkas initiative replaces the Kasih Ibu Smart Selangor (KISS) and KISS Ibu Tunggal (KISS IT), which would benefit 30,000 families involving a total allocation of RM108 million.
It is part of the 44 incentives under Iltizam Selangor Penyayang (ISP), meant for recipients to receive RM300 in monthly assistance or RM3,600 per year.
Meanwhile, commenting on the state government’s action to organise the Smart Digital Economic and Smart City Convention (SDEC), Teng said it would help companies to achieve the ‘soonicorn’ (valued at US$100 million) status and subsequently become a unicorn company (valued at over US$1 billion).
“SDEC was launched in 2016 and it promotes the use of technologies among startups as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“It is included in the annual Selangor International Business Summit (SIBS) event that gathers industrial players, academicians, SMEs and government agencies to formulate a better framework,” he said.