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Barisan Nasional is ready to defend any onslaught by PAS and its Pakatan Rakyat allies against the Government's planned 100-storey building at the proposed Warisan Merdeka development project in Kuala Lumpur.

Senator Dr Awang Adek Hussin alleged that Pakatan leaders did not understand the concept of having such a mega project, preferring to only politicise it for their own benefit.

The Kelantan Umno deputy chairman, who is also Deputy Finance Minister, said to boost domestic consumption, the Federal Govern ment needed support from the private sector and government-linked companies to conceive mega projects worth billions.

"If the project is just worth thousands, it would not be able to spark the desired multiplier effects," he said, adding that the United States was also re-developing its infrastructure to boost growth.

"It is not about being wasteful or negligent but it's about propelling the economy to move forward to become a high-income nation within the next 10 years," he said in an interview here.

"We cannot just settle for remarks (made by Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat) that Kelantan is developed just because it has hypermarkets.

"We cannot argue with folks who are content with just having hypermarkets.

"We want our state and country to progressively develop or we will lag behind," he said.