115,000 diesel vehicle owners approved for BUDI Individu assistance

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Finance has approved Budi Individu cash assistance for 115,000 out of 300,000 eligible individual diesel vehicle owners as of yesterday, said Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan.

“Although data from the Road Transport Department (JPJ) shows that there are 1.2 million private diesel vehicle owners nationwide, the figure includes various categories that are not eligible for the assistance.

“Of the 1.2 million private diesel vehicles, 300,000 are company-owned; 330,000 are in Sabah, Sarawak, and Labuan; 150,000 have expired road tax; and 60,000 are luxury vehicles or owned by individuals who exceed the income requirements,“ he said during the oral question and answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Abdul Khalib Abdullah (PN-Rompin) who wanted to know why only 100,000 or 10 per cent of the 1.2 million diesel vehicle owners nationwide received the BUDI MADANI assistance and the efforts being made to ensure that no one is left out.

The BUDI MADANI initiative, which was launched on May 28, is a platform to distribute diesel subsidy cash assistance to diesel vehicle owners through the BUDI Individu category; and to small-scale farmers and smallholders through the BUDI Agri-Komoditi category.

In addition to BUDI Individu, nearly 400,000 small-scale farmers and smallholders are eligible for the BUDI Agri-Komodi benefit.