PETALING JAYA: The Housing and Local Government Ministry is considering drafting a new Bill to safeguard buyers of abandoned commercial shop lot projects, which currently fall outside housing protection laws.
Minister Nga Kor Ming said shop units are classified as commercial premises and not covered under the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 (Act 118).
“The ministry is conducting a study so that we can propose a new Bill to ensure shop buyers are also protected under the law,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, in response to a supplementary question from Maran MP Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Abd Muttalib.
Nga also reported progress on abandoned housing projects, saying the ministry’s special task force has revived 1,171 developments since 2023, restoring nearly 140,000
homes worth RM113.55 billion in gross development value (GDV).
For the first half of 2025, 244 projects comprising 27,101 units were revived, with a GDV of RM21.07 billion.
On a separate matter, Nga received a memorandum of support from residents for the Urban Renewal Bill outside Parliament. Nearly 100 residents, including from
Desa Bakti in Selayang and the Taman Maluri flats in Cheras, urged the government to fast-track the legislation.
“They asked the government to speed up the Bill, and many also suggested that the Opposition should live in dilapidated flats to experience the hardship faced by the people. Do not politicise initiatives that are sincerely meant to help the people,” he said in a post on X.
Meanwhile, Town and Country Planning Department director-general Datuk Dr Alias Rameli said the agency engaged stakeholders through the National Council for Local Government to gather feedback from state authorities on the Bill, including the four SG4 states: Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis.
“Under Article 95A of the Federal Constitution, the federal government must consult state governments on local government policies. Some of these views have been acknowledged and incorporated into the Bill, including responsibilities on identifying redevelopment sites, which fall under state authority with support from local councils,” he said in Parliament.
Alias added that state governments hold the power to declare and gazette sites
for urban renewal projects, except in the Federal Territories.
The Urban Renewal Bill, due for its second reading in the Dewan Rakyat today, aims to redevelop dilapidated housing areas in a systematic, fair and inclusive way to
support community well-being and sustainable urban growth.
