BELOW MARKET PRICE: 5,000 houses under RM250,000 to be launched in two years

GEORGE TOWN: A QUARTER of the 20,000 low-cost and affordable homes to be built under the 1Malaysia People's Housing Scheme (PR1MA) in Penang will be on 182ha of land owned by federal agency JKP Sdn Bhd.

Its chairman, Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman, said the land, which is in several parcels measuring from 10ha to 32ha, is in the southern Seberang Prai district, Juru, Permatang Pauh, Tasek Gelugor, Kepala Batas and Balik Pulau.

The 5,000 houses would include flats, terrace homes and semi-detached houses with prices ranging from RM40,000 to RM250,000.

Zainal Abidin said the agency hoped to launch the 5,000 units within two years and they would be ready in three to five years.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that Penang would be getting 20,000 units of low-cost and affordable houses under the PR1MA programme to address worsening concerns that homes here were becoming too expensive for locals to own.

It was also reported that the affordable housing projects would be built on federal-owned land and those belonging to the Penang Regional Development Authority, JKP and Syarikat Perumahan Nasional Bhd (SPNB), with the first development of some 2,000 units to be constructed in Kampung Kastam, Bukit Gelugor.

While PR1MA will undertake the building of 10,000 units, the rest would be handled by Perda JKP and SPNB.

The PR1MA programme homes will be sold below market price at around RM300,000.

Zainal Abidin said with the many projects in the pipeline for the benefit of the people, the DAP-led state government should not impose any extra conditions on the agencies that would be building the houses.

He noted that in Penang, JKP and three other Federal Government-linked development firms -- Perda, UDA Holdings Berhad and Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) -- have to go through the State Planning Committee chaired by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng with their project plans first before going to the local councils for application approvals.

It was reported that the new ruling, which was introduced a few months ago, did not apply to other private developers that only needed to go through the Penang Island and Seberang Prai municipal councils.

Penang Housing Committee chairman Wong Hon Wai said the state government would not hold back the necessary approvals for affordable housing projects.