Forest City to have affordable homes

JOHOR BARU: The developer of the multibillion-ringgit Forest City project in Gelang Patah has agreed to review its development plan to include affordable housing.

State Housing and Rural Develop­ment Committee chairman Dzulkefly Ahmad said the decision was conveyed to the state government by Country Garden Pacificview Sdn Bhd (CGPV) recently.

“We welcome the move by the company as it will help the state government provide affordable houses to eligible Johoreans,” he told reporters after opening the Property Market in Johor Opportunities and Challenges Seminar 2018 organised by the Valuation Department.

He said CGPV was committed to handling the project over the next three years, adding that the company had yet to decide on the number of units and pricing.

Dzulkefly said the state government would like the project to be located on one of the four man-made islands within the ongoing Forest City project in Gelang Patah.

He said the developer needed to look at the costing as reclamation of the four man-made islands was “not cheap”.

Dzulkefly said several more meetings between the state government and the company would be held before both parties could make an announcement on the project.

He also said the state government would introduce a new type of affordable house by year-end for the middle-income group (M40) mostly living in urban areas.

The RM250,000 house is designed for the M40 group with monthly household incomes ranging between RM8,000 and RM12,000, he added.

The exco member said the M40 group was not eligible to buy RM42,000 and RM80,000 low-cost and medium-cost houses, and Rumah Mampu Milik Johor (RMMJ) priced at RM150,000, which he said were reserved for those with monthly household incomes below RM8,000.