KUALA KRAI: Residents in Manik Urai Lama and Manik Urai Baru have expressed the hope that their new assemblyman -- to be elected on Tuesday -- will look into upgrading existing facilities in the area.

They said that it was no longer enough to merely have the facilities in place.

"We have nearly everything... electricity, water supply, roads, schools, clinics, markets, mosques, even a train station but we want them to be upgraded.

We hope that the new assemblyman will look into this," said Nik Yaakub Nik Hassan, 65, of Manik Urai Lama.

Among the facilities in need of urgent upgrading, he said, was the Manik Urai Lama market.

Another facility which needs upgrading is a 40-year-old bridge in Manik Urai Lama.

Hassan Salim, who was nine years old when the bridge was built, said it was too narrow for a two-way traffic and that it would be jammed with vehicles especially during festive seasons.

Things were different when the bridge was first build, he said. "We need a wider bridge now as more and more people are owning vehicles."

Whoever is elected in the Manik Urai state by-election on Tuesday would do a great service to the people by upgrading the facility, he said.

A resident in Kampung Mesek, Ong Boon Keat, in his 40s, hoped that village roads would be repaired and widened for the comfort of residents and visitors.

In the by-election on Tuesday, Barisan Nasional candidate Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat is locked in a straight fight with PAS' Mohd Fauzi Abdullah. (Bernama)