Pahang experiences "dearth" of low-cost houses

09/05/2004 utusan.com.my

A low-cost housing project in Kuantan remains undeveloped after it was abandoned during the 1997 economic crunch, May 6. - Bernamapix.

KUANTAN - While Selangor reports a "glut" in the number of unsold low-cost houses in the state, the situation is exactly the opposite in neighbouring Pahang.

Pahang Housing and Growth Centres Committee Chairman Mohd Soffi Abdul Razak said the lack of low-cost houses for the low-income earners had been a long-standing issue in the state.

"Demand for low-cost units in the state overwhelms the existing supply, a simple case of demand exceeding supply," he told Bernama in Benta near Kuala Lipis recently.

Mohd Soffi said the problem was nothing new.

He said many abandoned housing projects were the reasons behind this issue.

Various problems including the economic slowdown which began in 1997 caused many developers to cease their operations as they could not meet the escalating costs in the construction sector, he said.

Mohd Soffi said the other factor was the presence of "greedy" individuals who owned more than one low-cost houses.

"This is unfair as some people who are elligible for low-cost units are forced to rent houses as others have more than one of such houses," he said.

Currently Pahang records 38,549 applicants for low-cost units but the number of houses available in the state is not enough to meet demand.

Under the state government's cross-subsidy scheme, only 2,358 units of low-cost houses are scheduled to be constructed in Bentong, Jerantut, Pekan, Maran and Kuala Lipis this year.

Under this scheme, the State Government provides the land for construction of low-cost houses by developers. In turn, the state Government will provide land at other strategic locations for the developers to start their own projects, to pay for the costs incurred in building the low-cost units.

The state government also collaborates with the National Housing Department (JPN) and Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (SPNB) to build affordable low-cost units for the public.

"Within the next two years, JPN will build 2,403 houses in Pekan, Maran, Lipis, Temerloh, Bentong, Kuantan, Raub and Rompin districts," he said.

Mohd Soffi said the private sector would implement 19 low-cost housing projects this year - six in Kuantan, four in Temerloh, three in Jerantut and one each in Bentong, Cameron Highlands, Rompin, Pekan, Raub and Maran.

He said the Pahang Government was also developing houses to be leased out to the hardcore poor.

Mohd Soffi said the state government, through Hiway Resources Sdn Bhd, was constructing 832 houses which should be available for rental when the units were completed by September.

Priority would be given to squatters and the handicapped, he said.

Mohd Soffi said the lease period was not more than five consecutive years and monthly rental would not exceed RM100.

Mohd Soffi said the Pahang Government made it a requirement for buyers of low-cost units to be Pahang-born or those who had stayed in the state for at least 10 years.

A small number of the applicants were those not Pahang-born, he said.

"Pahang is open to anybody who lives in the state, and those who stay over 10 years are elligible to purchase the low-cost units. However a number of the applicants have yet to stay in the state for 10 years," said Mohd Soffi. - Bernama