Penang state govt working on providing affordable housing to public

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Housing Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh has hit back at claims that said the state was holding back on approving some 10,000 affordable housing units by federal agencies JKP Sdn Bhd and the Penang Regional Development Authority (PERDA).
He said the units were to be constructed on land acquired for public purpose and questioned why some were priced at RM1.8million and RM800,000 on the island and mainland respectively.
“This is not affordable housing which can be owned by Penang residents, including me,” he said in a statement today.
Local Government, Housing and Urban Well-being Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan had on Saturday night called on the state to approve the units.
He said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng should prove himself to be a caring head of government by approving the units before May 7 which is polling day for the Permatang Pauh by-election. The poll was called after Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim failed to obtain a royal pardon for a sodomy charge.
Jagdeep pointed out units build on land acquired for public purpose should be priced at the affordable price range which the state set from RM42,000 to RM400,000.
He said the state had no qualms at all in approving affordable housing proposals and welcomed such plans.
Jagdeep also defended the record of the administration in providing affordable housing saying a total of 22, 512 such units were in the pipeline.
He said these units were spread out over 15 projects with three already starting work with the latest scheduled to finish by 2018.
He chided the federal government for not providing Projek Rumah 1Malaysia (PR1MA) units to Penang until now.
“There is no official application by the federal government to the state administration for this until today,” he said.