SADONG JAYA: The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) will continue to be committed in helping industry players involving the development of tourism facilities, especially during the current post-Covid-19 period.
Its Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the federal government would continue to seek assistance through National Economic Regeneration Plan (Penjana) initiative and Prihatin financial assistance, Prihatin Tambah Khas initiative in helping those in need, including the improvement of an existing tourist destination or company.
“Through this, we hope that they can revive their respective businesses.
“They can apply for Penjana through the 12 banks that are working with our ministry, while for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) they can apply up to RM300,000 while for micro enterprises they can apply up to RM75,000 at a rate of 3.5 percent for seven years,” she said.
Nancy said this when asked to comment on the ministry’s action in relation to the closing of several resorts, including resorts in the Kuching area due to the Covid-19 pandemic, here on Saturday (Aug 22).
She clarified that the main objective of the involvement of the banks was to assist the government and the people.
Accordingly, she called on entrepreneurs whose businesses are related to tourism that they are able to apply for the assistance through the banks involved including government banks.
“So use this opportunity. We know that there are also some parties complaining against us, because we know they do not belong to this group of SMEs. However, they can still apply through the Prihatin initiative.
“In fact, we at Motac can provide loans under the Tourism Infrastructure for up to RM100 million, including various other channels,” she explained.
She also hoped that the people would forward their enquiries in relation to their businesses to the ministry as it was part of their responsibility to disseminate accurate information to allow the allocation presented by the government to reach the people.
