Task force suggests affected house buyers get benefits from special fund

 

The Task Force on Sick and Abandoned Private Housing Projects (TFST) suggests that sick and delayed projects under government or state local authority housing programmes be given benefits from the RM1 billion Special Guarantee Fund allocated in Budget 2024.

Deputy Minister of Local Government Development Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir, who is also the TFST chairperson, said the task force took the position that during the period when developers were completing housing projects, the welfare of buyers who became victims of problematic housing projects must be taken care of.

He said the Local Government Development Ministry, through the TFST secretariat which is the National Housing Department, will work with the Finance Ministry to examine and refine the criteria to identify the suitability and needs in determining housing projects.

This is so that the allocations given can be used optimally in the rehabilitation of private housing projects to protect the interests of buyers.

Akmal (above) said in a statement yesterday that 50 sick and abandoned private housing projects with 4,986 housing units have been revived in October 2023, a record high in the 10 months since TFST was established in January.

He said this brought the number of revived private housing projects to 351, which involved 43,738 housing units with a Gross Development Value (GDV) of RM32.87 billion.

He said TFST had recorded 55 delayed projects, 497 sick projects and 117 confirmed private housing projects until October 2023 with a GDV of RM74.92 billion.

- Bernama