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| Penang govt mulls new low-cost housing plan |
| Written by Regina William | |||
| Tuesday, 19 May 2009 14:15 | |||
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Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said on May 19 public housing in Malaysia was stigmatised and conjured images of congestion, crime-prone and low quality housing. He said there was an absence of competent and professional development in Penang as there has never been proper planning. "Reaping excessive profits, red tape and over-regulation in the public housing mechanism are among our concerns that we want and need to look at," Lim said at the opening of the Penang Real Estate conference jointly organised by InvestPenang and the Social Economic and Environmental Research Institute (SERI), sponsored by IJM Land Berhad. "There is a need for a housing board to be free of any excesses to ensure that only quality public housing is in place. The state government is looking at the possibility of forming a body to oversee the implementation of quality public housing. "If you look at public housing in Singapore and Hong Kong, these are quality homes, unlike what we have here in Malaysia when it comes to low-cost housing. We have been studying various models over the past year and we need some time to study this as it has to be within a legal framework," he said. Lim said the state legal officer was "looking into this" and though it was still at a conceptual stage, the state government was hoping to speed things up and it will be on a basis on public/private sector partnership and not totally state government initiated. "There is no magic wand to make it all happen immediately but we are seriously looking at changing this public housing scenario for the benefit of the people. "This will only be possible if there is an effective, clean and efficient government in place, minus the practices of corruption. "We do not want any negative connotations associated with our public housing projects in tandem with our aim to propel Penang into an international city," Lim said. Earlier in his speech, Lim said there was a serious need for housing at a lower price range in the locations where jobs were available. "It is my hope that in the not too distant future, we do not call our houses low-cost or middle cost houses. Together we build homes and not merely housing units for those who are at the bottom of the economic hierarchy. "It is my belief that if we build homes where value of the property will appreciate in time, and where there is a livable environment for the children to learn and play, we shall see social mobility in the lower stratum of society," he added. Lim said he has also directed SERI to assist in reformulating the state's housing policies, which will unleash entrepreneurships in real estate developers while implementing the state government's agenda of building for the next generation.
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