State’s conditions put a damper on Federal’s housing efforts

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government has been derailing efforts by the Federal Government to build low-cost houses for the people.

Penang MCA Liaison Committee secretary Dr Tan Chuan Hong said by making it conditional for PR1MA Corporation Malaysia to build only low-cost houses, the state was trying to derail affordable housing projects and make the Federal Government a scapegoat for the lack of such housing in the state.

“There is not a single low-cost house built after seven years of Pakatan rule. When PR1MA contemplates doing it, the state refuses to approve the projects on grounds that it is a mixed development.

“Housing projects need to be mixed developments of high, middle and low-cost housing to ensure success. This creates a micro-community of people from all walks of life and creates a balanced environment,” he said in a press statement yesterday.

Dr Tan also took Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to task over alleged ‘developer-friendly’ approaches.

“He has approved the sale of state land to the point that the land bank has been reduced to a mere 28% from the time Pakatan took over Penang. Many green hills have gone bald, and none of the land sold is for low-cost housing.

“Lim claims to put people first but he has raised water tariffs, assessment rates, hawker licence fees and service charge of up to 200% on property transfers,” he added.

On Sunday, Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the state government should approve applications from federal housing agencies to build 10,000 affordable homes inPenang.

He had said that if the state government could not afford to build affordable housing, then they should not delay the Federal Government’s attempts to do so.

State Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo had reiterated that the problem was the selling price listed by the federal agencies.

“The proposed selling price for their projects is about RM1.8mil for a residential unit on the island and RM800,000 in Seberang Prai.

“Penang people will not be able to afford such prices as it is over-priced.”

Meanwhile, figures on state government contracts here reveal an alarmingly lopsided differences between awards to bumiputra and non-bumiputra companies.

A total of 94% of the 6,095 government projects over the last seven years were awarded to bumiputra contractors, said Penang MCA Liaison Committee deputy chairman Tan Teik Cheng.

“It is alarming that only 6% of the jobs were awarded to non-bumiputra companies. Clearly, the state government is trying to apple-polish the bumiputras and has inevitably marginalised the others,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Tan had questioned the statistics recently released by Lim because the Chinese made up 40% of the state’s population.

Lim had released the figures in an attempt to show Permatang Pauh voters that he had not marginalised bumiputra contractors.