ALOR SETAR: Dr Hezri Adnan confirmed that his contract as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) had expired last Saturday after two years leading the development board.

When contacted by Bernama today, he said the contract to hold the post is for two years, starting April 4, 2019 and the former CEO accepted the decision from the Finance Ministry not to extend his contract.

"I accept this decision positively, whereby on March 17, 2021 I received a letter of appreciation signed by the Finance Minister (Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz) confirming the end of my contract," he said.

Hezri said he was optimistic with the decision and believed that the government had due consideration to appoint a new CEO of LADA.

"It's just that two years was a short time for me to make big changes in LADA, especially since in 2020, our country was going through a difficult situation where the COVID-19 pandemic had affected tourist arrivals to Langkawi," he said.

In this regard, he hoped that the new CEO of LADA would be able to further improve the relationship between the development board and the community and players in the tourism industry as he had done before.

-- BERNAMA