KUALA LUMPUR: A longtime wish of 62 families to have a place to call their own has now been fulfilled under Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s Baiti Jannati project.
Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abd Samad said this strategic partnership between the government and the corporate sector, has brought tremendous benefit to residents and effectively handled the issue of urban poor.
He said the Baiti Jannati project provided a comfortable place of living which is the basis to the families’ harmony.
“It is our aim to provide a comfortable place to live for the disabled, the underprivileged, the single mothers and the asnaf (those deserving of tithe). We hope more Government-Linked Companies would come forward to follow TNB’s lead,” he said after handing over the houses for recipients in the Federal Territory, under the Projek Baiti Jannati Wilayah Persekutuan 2019 at the Kompleks Sukan Pantai Ecopark Lembah Pantai.
Each house was worth about RM50,000 each.
TNB chief corporate officer Datuk Wira Roslan Ab Rahman said this year, 60 recipients in the city were given ownership of low-cost houses and two of them will be helped by TNB to build houses on their own land.
He said in 2017, TNB contributed about RM6 million of business tithe (zakat perniagaan) to Pusat Pungutan Zakat Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) and RM3.4 million of it was used for the Projek Baiti Jannati Wilayah Persekutuan 2019.
Roslan said owners were selected based on suggestions from MAIWP as they are registered as Baitulmal aid recipients.
Out of the 62 recipients, 23 of them were from Lembah Pantai, as TNB’s headquarters is in Bangsar.
Since it was introduced in 2007, a total of 703 houses were repaired, built or purchased throughout Peninsular Malaysia at the cost of more than RM30 million.
Also present during the event was Lembah Pantai member of parliament Fahmi Fadzil.