The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said so far, a big chunk of the allocation had been spent to refurbish 809 houses.

“We have changed the rooftops of many of these village houses so that umbrellas and plastic sheets are no longer used to cover leakages.

“This method of covering up the rooftops during heavy rains is no longer practised by residents of some 600 new villages,” he said after opening the New Village Development and Security Committee (JKKK) members cadre training session at Wisma MCA here yesterday.

Dr Wee, who is MCA deputy president, said that last year, a sum of RM8.8mil was allocated to repair 1,025 houses in new villages throughout the country.

He said the funds for repair works were different from the primary allocation for the construction of community hall, road surfacing, drainage and infrastructure for new villages.

“For Melaka, some RM2.71mil was allocated for repair works in 2014, RM1.3mil in 2015, RM2.6mil in 2016 and RM1.8mil for this year.

“Maintenance is crucial in view that these village houses were erected in the early 1950s and gradually, the structures have begun to deteriorate over the years,” he said, adding that all cases referred by the JKKK to them would be attended to.

Dr Wee also called upon JKKK officials to serve their villagers diligently and bring forth their woes to the authorities.

Earlier, during the question-and-answer session, Ayer Salak JKKK chairman Lim Cheng Hong proposed to transform the predominantly Catholic settlement into a Christmas fairyland during Yuletide season.

Lim requested Dr Wee to help in sourcing for funds to realise the Christmas decorations as Ayer Salak could be turned into another tourist attraction, apart from the Portuguese settlement.

Ayer Salak is home to mostly Teo Chew Catholics and has a number of old churches dating back to the 1850s.