KUALA LUMPUR: Twenty Housing Development Accounts (HDAs) involving “sick” housing projects have been frozen by the authorities, says the Deputy Local Government Development Minister.
Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir told the Dewan Rakyat here the move came after the ministry’s investigation found that the developers neglected their responsibilities, which could jeopardise buyers’ interests.
“Additionally, developers can be fined up to RM50,000 if they fail to fulfil their obligations,” he said in reply to Zahir Hassan (PH-Wangsa Maju) yesterday.
Zahir asked the ministry to state the effectiveness of using HDAs to control the problem of abandoned or sick housing projects.
According to Akmal Nasrullah, a total of 284 fines were also issued for violations under Section 7 (e) of the Act from last year to 2023.
He added that the National Housing Department has consistently ensured that licensed housing developers comply with all existing regulations.
On a question related to Budget 2024, the Deputy Minister said the proposal for a special guarantee fund to revive stalled projects will be presented to the Finance Ministry.
He added that among the proposals is to utilise the fund for affordable housing projects below RM300,000 and for projects whose progress status has exceeded at least 80%.
“We are also looking at housing programmes under federal government agencies and state authorities, especially affordable housing projects facing the risk of becoming sick or stalled projects,” he said.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Zahir regarding the government’s approach to resolving housing projects classified as distressed or stalled.
Under Budget 2024, the government allocated a special RM1bil guarantee fund to encourage responsible developers to rebuild abandoned projects that have been identified.
