Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim today explained that the purchase of 15 Toyota Camrys as official state cars was done based on quotation and not through open tenders.

He said, the state government had previously looked at all quotations from several car companies before coming to a decision.

“After looking at the quotations by those companies, the state government decided to purchase the Toyota Camry due to its reasonable price and low maintenance costs,” he said, adding that the use of the Toyota Camry would also be more stable and practical as its price had been set by the federal government.

He said this to the media after officiating the Majlis Gotong-Royong Serentak Negeri Selangor (the Selangor Gotong-Royong Serentak Ceremony) in Taman Sentosa, Bestari Jaya, here, this morning.

Commenting on the 15 cars, Abdul Khalid said it would be distributed in stages for the use of all State Executive Council Members and three senior state government officers, the Secretary of State, Legal Advisor and State Financial Officer.

According to him, all Proton Perdana V6 Eksekutif used previously would be sold through the open tender system.

In the meantime, Abdul Khalid today also officiated the Gotong-Royong Serentak Ceremony which is being held simultaneously throughout the state for the first time.

He said among the main objectives of the gotong-royong was to beautify the state by maintaining cleanliness besides making it disease-free.

“We would like to remind (everyone) that cleanliness is only possible if we think of it as a constant practice, and not just something you do once a year.

“Because of that one of our efforts include encouraging council members in all districts to assist, monitor and work together with the local population in overcoming cleanliness problems besides the other issues that they face,” he said adding that he hoped this programme would be continued from time to time in the future. – MURIZA ABDUL HAMID.