PENAMPANG: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has set a July deadline to eradicate hardcore poverty in Sabah.
He said issues on basic needs and infrastructure development should be prioritised and addressed by both the federal and state governments.
"My priority is to eradicate poverty as the issue is more serious in Sabah compared to Penang or Selangor. It takes a longer time to solve this.
"This means (there are families) that cannot afford to buy school uniforms, food or milk for children is also a problem.
"Therefore, it is the responsibility of the federal government with the state to eradicate hardcore poverty, of which the number of households had decreased from 20,000 to 9,000.
"I would like to thank the state government for its full cooperation as we work to eradicate hardcore poverty by July this year," he said during the state level Kaamatan celebration at Hongkod Koisaan here.
Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, added that Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor had also discussed the issue of hardcore poverty with him.
He also said they had discussed about water and electricity supply issues.