KUALA LUMPUR: The federal government will continue with its plans to provide infrastructure in Manik Urai despite losing the by-election for the state constituency Tuesday, said Kelantan Barisan Nasional (BN) Election director Datuk Mustapa Mohamed.

He said the federal government would not ignore the welfare of the residents there and would construct infrastructural facilities according to its financial capacity.

"Of course the (federal) government made several promises during the election. This was because there were many requests made by people as Manik Urai is located in the interior region and most of them need government assistance such as subsidy for house repairs and construction as well as welfare aid," he said at a press conference, here Wednesday.

The by-election for the Manik Urai state seat was won by the PAS candidate, Mohd Fauzi Abdullah, who received 5,348 votes compared with the 5,283 votes secured by BN's Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat, giving Mohd Fauzi a majority of 65 votes.

Throughout the eight days of campaigning, BN had promised to bring development to the constituency including building a new bridge at Manik Urai Lama and a mosque at Temalir besides planning to turn Manik Urai into an Agropolitan centre.

"We plan to continue to provide service to the constituency as well as other areas in Kelantan because we feel a change has occurred. We do this as a task of the federal government and hope that for the 13th general election, the people of Kelantan will assess our determination and commitment to help in resolving their problems," said Mustapa.

He said the narrow win by PAS also proved that the people of Kelantan felt that they had been under the administration of Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Nik Aziz Nik Mat for too long and were beginning to show support for BN.

"Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has become Prime Minister for more than 100 days. This is a vote of confidence for the PM (Prime Minister) who had carried out several innovations in policies," said Mustapa.

He said a post-mortem on the by-election would be made at the meeting of the BN Supreme Council next month. (Bernama)