SHTDA project in Labuan revived
17/02/2006 Daily Express

 
Labuan: Good news for buyers of the houses at what has become "Taman Lallang" here.

The Sabah Housing and Town Development Authority (SHTDA)'s biggest housing project on the island, initiated in 1994 and abandoned after almost 80 per cent complete, is being rehabilitated.

The National Housing Commission (NHC) has pumped in RM5 million to help revive the project and the rehabilitation work is expected to be completed next year.

Comprising 106 units of various types of houses costing about RM130,000 each depending on the type, the project should have been completed by 1996. The land for the project, undertaken by a private company, belongs to the State Government.

Among buyers of the houses there were the Federal Territory Islamic Association which booked 10 units and the Sabah Civil Servants Co-operative which invested RM2.5 million.

Though efforts were made earlier by SHTDA to revive the project, it went under Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional (Danaharta).

It is the second major housing project to be revived here. Earlier, NHC had pumped in some RM40 million to rehabilitate "Taman Mutiara" which comprised 1,300 units of medium-cost and 620 units of low-cost houses.

Labuan Corporation (LC) Chairman, Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman, said he was pleased that abandoned or stalled housing projects on the island, which stuck out like eyesores, were gradually being rehabilitated.

He said he was grateful to NHC for rehabilitating housing projects in Labuan, adding, "LC had also played a role in helping to speed up efforts to rescue the projects."