Govt to help solve squatter issues in Johor

JOHOR BARU: The Local Government Development Ministry will assist Johor to solve issues involving more than 10,000 squatter houses, says its Deputy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir.

He said that a special task force had been set up, which he jointly chairs with Johor state housing and local government committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor.

"There are about 10,000 squatter houses in Johor and details on the issue will be discussed by the taskforce.

"We will work together to find a solution to reduce the number of squatter houses in Johor. One way is to relocate them to a People's Housing Programme (PPR) unit," he said in a press conference after the handing-over ceremony of the Cahaya Senibong PPR here on Sunday (Dec 3).

Akmal added that there are 21 PPR projects in Johor, 13 of which have been completed and six are still under construction.

"We hope that the state government can allocate some units at the PPR here to relocate squatters," he said.

Of the 10,301 units of squatter houses, 8,793 are in Johor Baru, 522 in Batu Pahat, 503 in Pontian while the rest are in the other seven districts. – Bernama