GEORGE TOWN: Some 40,000 units of various houses will be built in Penang by 2025 to meet the state's housing demand.
Of the total, 35,118 will be in the categories of low-cost, low medium-cost and affordable housing.
State Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said the state's population was projected to increase by a quarter million to about 2 million from the current 1.6 million over the next decade.
"We have enlisted help from the private sector to cater for housebuyers in the low cost, low-medium-cost and affordable housing categories.
"We are prepared to build more quality houses in line with the population growth in Penang," he told reporters after attending a soft launch of the RM300,000 per unit affordable housing by Ideal Property Group in Seri Tanjung Pinang here.
Among the features of the apartment units, offered by Ideal Property, is a dedicated child daycare centre to relieve the burden of working parents.
Meanwhile, Jagdeep said the state government had formed a private-public partnership with five developers, with more expected to be on board to build new houses, especially in the affordable housing category.
The affordable housing projects were in Batu Kawan, Teluk Kumbar, Bayan Lepas, Sungai Ara and Tanjung Tokong.
"We have received 12,606 submissions from the private sector so far while the remaining 22,512 units to be built by state-owned Penang Development Corporation over the next 10 years," he said, adding that the 22,512 units consisted of 12 projects located in the five districts on the island and the mainland.