‘Cheaper houses if state gives land free’

Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan is blaming state governments for rising cost of houses.

KUALA LUMPUR: Houses under the 1Malaysia People’s Housing (PR1MA) programme could be built 30% cheaper if state governments were willing to allocate land for free, said Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

He said as land made up one of the highest costs in housing development, state governments should be willing to allocate sites for the projects.

“If the land is provided free of charge, of course, house prices can be lowered,” he told reporters before distributing food to the homeless under the Urban Affairs Secretariat’s Food For Life programme in Jalan Masjid India here yesterday.

Under PR1MA, the government plans to build 500,000 affordable homes priced between RM150,000 and RM400,000 throughout the country within the next five years.

In MUAR, Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (SPNB) chairman Dr Abdul Latif Ahmad said the government would work with state governments to acquire land for housing projects in an effort to reduce construction cost.

He said this was because land accounted for 30% of housing cost while 20% was the cost of infrastructure development.

House prices fluctuated due to the cost of construction materials and hence, cooperation from state governments in land acquisition is vital to reduce the cost of building affordable housing,” he told reporters here.

In JOHOR BARU, Pertubuhan Sukarelawan Peguam Malaysia (SukaGuam) has offered help to buyers of abandoned housing projects in Johor.

Johor Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Abdul Latiff Bandi said house buyers, who were victimised, could seek help from SukaGuam at its office in Menara Ansar here or at its booth at the Johor Property Carnival at the end of November.

“SukaGuam charges a minimal fee based on cases. I have received complaints that while housing projects stalled, developers are sleeping peacefully,” he said after handing over contributions to parent-teacher associations from Mersing here yesterday.

-Bernama