Malaysia has 609 delayed, sick or abandoned private housing projects, but 1,399 projects have been rehabilitated since 2023, says deputy minister
PUTRAJAYA: A total of 609 private housing projects nationwide were classified as delayed, “sick” or abandoned as of Dec 31, comprising 161 delayed, 349 sick and 99 abandoned projects, according to the Housing and Local Government Ministry.
Its deputy minister Datuk Aiman Athirah Sabu said at a media conference yesterday that Selangor tops the list of states with the highest number of sick housing projects, followed by Johor, Perak and Pahang.
“Although the number of delayed and sick projects has slightly increased, all remain under control through continuous monitoring and targeted interventions by the Task Force on Delayed, Sick and Abandoned Housing Projects.
“Encouragingly, the number of abandoned projects has shown a decrease, from 102 to 99,” she said, adding that this reflects the effectiveness of close collaboration between the task force and various stakeholders and strategic partners at the ground level in rehabilitating housing projects.
Aiman Athirah also highlighted that a total of 1,399 housing projects have been successfully rehabilitated, comprising 167,423 housing units with a gross development value of RM133.78 billion since the establishment of the task force in January 2023 under the Madani government.
She said based on an average household size of five, this benefits more than half a million Malaysians.
She added that 109 projects were restored from sick to normal status, 1,265 projects obtained the Certificates of Completion and Compliance (CCC) and 34 abandoned projects were fully rehabilitated.
Aiman Athirah said the task force has conducted site visits to 68 housing projects, and she personally inspected the sites together with the task force team.
She said of the sites inspected, 46 projects have successfully obtained the CCC, while the remaining projects have shown encouraging physical progress and are expected to be completed according to scheduled timelines.
“When we go down to the ground, we do not engage in fault-finding or blame games. Instead, we focus on identifying the real issues that cause delays, sickness or the risk of abandonment, and we implement specific, targeted interventions.”
She said such an approach is aligned with the ministry’s commitment to reduce problematic housing projects while ensuring that there would be no new abandoned housing projects by 2030.
“We remain committed to strengthening our monitoring mechanisms. This year, I will personally visit with the task force team 45 targeted projects as part of the ongoing oversight of about 3,000 housing projects nationwide. We have already visited seven (this month), with 38 more to go.”
Aiman Athirah said various factors continue to cause projects to remain sick, with the main issue being the financial capability of developers.
She said based on the 3,000 projects the ministry is monitoring, the majority of delayed and sick projects are a result of the impact of Covid-19.
“During the lockdowns, construction activities stopped and workers were sent home. Even after reopening, it took time to recruit new workers. From what I have observed, the process of rehiring workers typically took between six months to a year.”
On safety matters, she said the task force conducts monitoring visits every three months, with the next visit in February covering the entire structures from the lowest to the highest floors.
“Insya-Allah, I hope the targets, including the full resolution of these housing projects by March 2027, can be achieved.”
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