Proposal won’t hurt developers much
 30/09/2005 The Star

I refer to Richard Teo’s letter, “Build-and-sell proposal poses too many hazards to succeed,” (The Star, Sept 28).

He said such a concept is not workable in Malaysia because of state policies (mandatory 30% low-cost and bumiputra allocation), and bureaucratic and inefficient mechanisms.

Neither reason makes for convincing argument why the concept cannot be applied.

Developers have always done well despite such policies.

At worst, these policies will erode their profit margins slightly.

It is but a small sacrifice in behaving as a good corporate citizen.

As for bureaucratic and inefficient mechanisms, it is misleading of Teo to highlight them without mentioning the fact that developers are currently adhering to such processes wholly at their own costs since they cannot start selling their houses until approval has been obtained.

If they can take on the risks as well as the financial burden for this stage of the construction, I fail to see how they would suffer more under the proposed model.

I think the consumer has suffered enough and it is appropriate for the Government to intervene for the consumer.

Developers and their apologists such as Teo have for the past 20 years seen the pain and agony suffered by housebuyers because of abandoned projects without doing anything, such as setting up a compensation fund.

If they are to suffer now, I think they deserve it.

TIRED CONSUMER,
Rawang.
(via e-mail)