Only 122 Abandoned Housing Projects Identified, Says Ong

09/09/2004  Bernama.com

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 (Bernama) -- Only 122 or 1.16 per cent of the 10,553 housing projects approved from 1990 until July this year have been identified as abandoned, the Dewan Rakyat was told Thursday.

Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said the government had taken steps, including amending the Housing Developers Act to impose tighter conditions for developers, to overcome the problem.

Since then, the incidence of abandoned housing projects had been brought under control through monitoring and stricter issuance of licences which required developers to have a clean record and be free from abandoned projects and fraud, he said in reply to Wong Nai Chee (BN-Kota Melaka).

To a supplementary question from Datuk Badruddin Amiruldin (BN-Jerai), he said the government would blacklist housing development companies which abandoned projects and refused to abide by the awards of the housing tribunal on house-buyers claims.

"We will also blacklist the board of directors and are also considering including the names of the share-holders," he said.

To prevent blacklisted developers from using proxies, the ministry was looking into making it compulsory for all licences applicants to sign an undertaking that they had no connection with these errant developers, he added.

To a supplementary question from Wong on the build-then-sell concept, Ong said a comprehensive study was needed to ensure ample supply of low- and medium-cost houses in future.

This was because developers would not build low-cost houses if they had the capital and strategic locations to build houses that would bring them bigger profits, he said.

He said a working paper on the concept would be tabled to the cabinet after discussions between the ministry and the housing industry.

However, as an incentive, developers who implemented the project would be exempted from obtaining the developer's licence, he added.

Health Ministry parliamentary secretary Lee Kah Choon said special clinics would be set up in all hospitals to operate after office hours to reduce the congestion at the emergency department.

This would separate the critical from the non-critical cases and reduce the burden of doctors at the emergency department, he said, adding that non-critical patients at the emergency department would delay treatment of the more serious cases.

Replying to a supplementary question from Dr Juniady Abdul Wahab (BN-Batu Pahat), he said doctors working after office hours would get an allowance of RM30 an hour.

To an original question from S. Devamany (BN-Cameron Highland) he acknowledged that the emergency department faced a shortage of support staff, especially nurses, during the festive season.

To overcome the problem, rosters would be drawn up to ensure that there were enough nurses on duty, especially during Hari Raya, because 80 per cent of nurses in government hospitals were Muslims, he said.

-- BERNAMA