KUALA LUMPUR: About 3,000 households remain on the waiting list for public housing even as Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) moves ahead with upgrades to ageing housing schemes.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Hannah Yeoh said improving existing facilities at People’s Housing Project (PPR) and Public Housing Projects (PA) was crucial as demand for units remained high.
She said 25 of 64 such schemes in Kuala Lumpur were in the midst of undergoing upgrading works, which included improvements to lifts, roads, lighting and fire safety systems.
Yeoh said this when met today (July 29) at PPR Seri Pantai in Kerinchi to oversee maintenance and upgrading works worth RM2.59mil.
The project was part of a wider RM300mil package announced under Budget 2026 to improve public housing schemes across the capital.
Of the amount spent on PPR Seri Pantai, some RM1.6mil went towards lift upgrades, while the remainder covered road resurfacing, lighting, water pumps, fire prevention systems and a children’s playground.
Yeoh said maintaining the facilities was a shared responsibility and urged residents to take care of the improvements once completed.
“Now that the facilities have been upgraded, we hope residents will look after them. This is the taxpayers' money,” she said.
She also urged residents to raise concerns with their MPs so the government could better identify areas requiring attention.
“We want to hear the voice of the community,” she said, while stressing that the government’s approach to urban poverty was not based on ethnicity, as financial hardship affected communities across racial lines.
“Poor and wealthy people exist across all communities. We help everyone who needs assistance,” she added.
Yeoh also noted that some PPR units were reserved for police and firefighters to maintain their presence within the community, as well as for victims displaced by disasters.
At the event, DBKL also presented PPR offer letters to 29 recipients, comprising 15 Malays and 14 Indians.
A total of 40 traders, meanwhile, received a trading licence from DBKL.
The traders will operate at designated premises across eight parliamentary constituencies in Kuala Lumpur.
