Emulate Penang’s political will over PPR flats abuse, CM tells Putrajaya

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow today urged the federal government to take a stern approach against abuse by those ineligible for government rental flats for the poor, such as the PPR flats.

He said the Penang government’s move to evict 22 families from the Taman Manggis PPR, or people’s housing project, flats showed the state had the political will to ensure that only the deserving received assisted housing units.

“Penang has shown its political commitment and bravery in tackling a long-standing issue and we hope that the federal ministry would do a national exercise to ensure that PPR units go to deserving Malaysians,” Chow said at a press conference in Komtar today.

Last Wednesday, 22 households were evicted from the Taman Manggis flats at Jalan Zainal Abidin after they were found to have violated rules, such as having higher than the set income of RM1,500, having years of outstanding arrears and renting out the units to others. About 10 of them later slept outside Komtar in protest.

Penang Housing Committee Chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said Penang had no choice but to take enforcement action, as the state had RM18 million in uncollected rent and maintenance fees from some 1,000 PPR units in the state.

He said the government had offered to reschedule their payments but the delinquents had refused to abide by the payment schedule.

Jagdeep denied claims that the Taman Manggis residents were given last minute notice to move out, saying the first notice was given to the 22 units last October.

He said from the first notice in October until they were evicted on Mar 6, these occupants were offered alternative housing, but not all responded to the offer. He said of the 22 evicted, only four households voluntarily moved out.

Jagdeep said all those evicted were given a chance to “upgrade their status” from renting a PPR unit to owning a unit, including fast-tracking and putting them on a priority list for low-cost, rent-to-own units.

He said the recent offer to the six families who held a sit-down protest at Komtar for the past week was also the same. He also denied a suggestion that the state had “kowtowed” to the demands of the residents.

Jagdeep said the same offer was made to the residents who protested yesterday, whilst giving them two weeks from yesterday to empty their units.

He said two were offered low-cost homes at RM42,00 each, under a rent-to-own scheme where they would need to pay RM233.30 a month and the unit would be theirs in 20 years. He said one family had chosen to buy a low-medium cost unit at a cost of RM72,500.

“As for the others, they have applied for units, but they were not in Komtar yesterday for discussions. They are being considered to be placed in the priority list for other projects.” -FMT