Kedah Gerakan Youth has handed a memorandum to Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak on the state government's debts which have reached almost RM3 billion.

Its chief Tan Keng Liang said the memorandum urges the state government to take appropriate measures to reduce the debt burden accumulated since it came into power  in 2008.

NONE"According to the Auditor-General's Report 2011, as at Dec 31 2011, the debts had reached RM2.6 billion while the state government's cash balance stood at only RM193.22 million," Tan said.

"From our investigations, we found that the RM2.6 billion did not include the RM330 million debt from the construction of (Kolej Universiti Insaniah). Hence, the estimated debts now amount to RM2.933 billion."

Tan (left) said this after handing over the memorandum to a special officer of the menteri besar, Mohd Rosli Azmi, at Wisma Darul Aman in Alor Setar today.

Tan noted that the debt increase was almost 50 percent after PAS and its allies in Pakatan Rakyat took over the state administration.

"We are worried about the state's financial situation as the debt is too high, while the cash balance is less than that," he said.

Tan said the debt could have been reduced if the state government had practised prudent spending and made a thorough study before investing in any project to avoid heavy losses.

"The Kedah government said it has been spending prudently but it bought a Mercedes S350 car at almost RM800,000, an example of wasting public funds," he added.

"We hope the menteri besar will look into this matter to safeguard the state's future."

- Bernama