Expos to register ‘qualified’ homebuyers

The Star 24/4/2004

PETALING JAYA: The Housing and Local Government Ministry will hold expositions to allow “qualified” housebuyers to register for low-cost houses, said Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting.

“We urge those who are qualified to come forward to register and the ministry will study their problems,” he said, adding that the Government would always extend help to the lower income group.

Ong, who said this in an interview in the Bersama Menteri programme on TV1 last night, said the move came about after the ministry received complaints that those from the lower-income group could not buy low-cost houses.

Ong expressed suspicion that there were problems with the registration process which had hindered qualified buyers from registering for these housing schemes, resulting in unsold low-cost houses.

“The ministry wants to know if the registration process is too difficult or complicated,” he said.

Ong said the ministry was preparing an explanatory note to the Cabinet as to why low-cost houses could not be built and sold.

Ong also refuted allegations that there were 300,000 unsold low-cost houses in the country.

He said the person who made the allegation could not provide any evidence for the remark.

According to the statistics revealed by the Finance Ministry, he said that only about 9,000 low-cost houses remained unsold in the first quarter of the year.

He said the ministry wanted to know why the state governments and local government authorities apparently did not follow the open registration system.