IPOH: The Perak Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (Rehda) has lauded improvements to the Perak State Housing Policy (DPNP) introduced by the state government and which come into force this month.
Its chairman, Tony Khoo Boon Chuan, said the policy would enable the state government to build more low-cost houses for those in the lower income group in the state.
Khoo said developers previously had no other choice but to build 30 per cent low-cost houses for every housing project.
“This resulted in a situation where most of the affordable houses that should have been built by them were not implemented, as they needed to bear all the additional costs – and this definitely did not bring any profit to them.
“The new housing policy is totally different. For high-density housing construction measuring eight hectares, developers are now free to choose from four different components.
“The components are 10 per cent for low-cost houses, 20 per cent each for middle-cost and affordable houses, and 50 per cent for houses at market prices,” he said when met at his office here, recently.
Khoo said the four different components will definitely bring a win-win scenario for developers as well as house buyers.
“The policy is crucial, because when developers were making deals with the Perak Housing and Property Board (LPHP) previously, they were facing never-ending issues.
“This policy will help in so many aspects. For instance, there was a situation where the developer did not comply with unspecified conditions, even though their development area exceeded eight hectares and they appealed for an exception.
“Besides that, there were also developers who postponed building low-cost and middle-cost houses while applying for Advertising Permits and Developer Licenses through the Ministry of Housing and Local Government.
“In fact, there were also developers who have yet to build low-cost and middle-cost houses that were approved by the state government since 2015,” he added.
Khoo said the Bumiputera quota discharge method of the previous approach also put pressure on developers where they needed to take a longer time and go through complicated procedures that contributed to increase of cost.
“The developers are forced to incur losses if there are unsold Bumiputera quota housing, since it takes a long period for the process of releasing the quota.
“Among the losses that need to borne by developers are payment of interest to banks, damage to houses that are ready for sale, as well as buyers who change their minds at the last minute due to the long period of releasing the Bumiputera quota,” he added.
Khoo said that the DPNP would accelerate the process of offering the houses to people from all walks of life in the country.
“The policy is in line with the state government’s dream which to build 50,000 units of low-cost houses within five years. It also encourages private sector participation in the construction of Rumah Perakku, each unit of which is priced at between RM70,000 and RM250,000,” he added.