Affordable homes on the way

ZUBICON Sdn Bhd has been awarded the tender to build 1,900 units of affordable housing in Jalan S.P. Chelliah in George Town.

Penang Development Corpo-ration (PDC) general manager Datuk Rosli Jaafar said Zubicon beat seven other companies in the request for proposal (RFP) that was called between Jan 17 and Feb 18.

He said the affordable housing scheme, Chelliah Park City, had 770 low medium-cost units of 700sq ft at the price of RM72,500. Out of these, 320 are Bumiputra units.

A total of 883 medium-cost units of 800sq ft will also be available at RM200,000, 165 units of 900sq ft at RM300,000 and 82 units at 1,000sq ft at the price of RM400,000.

Rosli said the company had offered the highest Guaranteed Monetary Contribution at RM60mil with additional amount of RM25mil for public facilities.

“The company has to abide by the rules set by the state government and the local authority.

“The company will also prepare a design plan for the project that fulfils the Green Building Index for gold rating as well as other public facilities,” he told a press conference at Komtar yesterday.

The public facilities include a linear park and beautification of Sungai Pinang, bus terminal, bicycle lane and pedestrian walkway and also a surau.

Rosli said the company had suggested a sustainable and self-contained compact development concept suitable for a project loca-ted in the city centre.

He also said that once the agreement was signed, Zubicon had to start work within a year and complete the project three years after that.