May 2, 2008
THE Tourism Ministry has finally handed over half of the RM1mil which it had promised to fund the 6th International Dragon Boat Federation Club Crew World Championship (IDBF CCWC) that Penang is hosting.
State Tourism Development, Culture, Arts and Heritage Committee chairman Danny Law Heng Kiang said the ministry recently released RM500,000 to the organiser, the Penang International Dragon Boat Festival (PIDBF) committee, which he is also chairing.
Law had on April 14 said that the ministry promised to allocate RM1mil when the state placed its bid to host the event three years ago but transferred only RM500,000 to the Penang Tourism Action Council (PTAC) late last year and withheld approval for the funds to be transferred to the committee.
Besides the ministry, Law said yesterday that the state government had allocated RM200,000 for the event, and the Penang Water Supply Corporation as the main sponsor was spending RM880,000 on the infrastructure costs at the site.
He said a further RM500,000 was expected from private sector sponsors, bringing the sum to about RM2mil.
However, Law asked for more sponsors to come forward and said he would have to appeal to the Penang and Federal Governments for more funds.
“Our budget is only RM4mil, compared to the $32mil (RM98.56mil) spent by the Canadian Government on the 5th CCWC held in Canada two years ago,” he told reporters at a logo presentation ceremony by the sponsors.
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