TAXPAYERS will be glad to hear that the controversial plan to set up the High Performance Training Centre in Brickendonbury, London, is now scrapped.

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob is right in cancelling the project, which caused a lot of uneasiness among the public regarding how the government is spending taxpayers’ money, especially when the returns are minimal.

The government should be more prudent and use such funds for more useful projects.

The public had spoken against the project earlier but the then youth and sports minister, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, was adamant that it should go on.

The government should not spend unnecessarily on grand projects that cost millions but benefit only a few.

Government funds should be channelled more towards the poor and help improve the livelihoods of the common people.

HAMDAN IBRAHIM, Kuala Lumpur

Source: NST – April 14, 2008