The online registration for 80,000 affordable homes to be built in 50 cities and towns under the Perumahan Rakyat 1Malaysia (PR1MA) will be officially launched in Penang on Saturday.
Qualified applicants will be able to take part in the balloting of the houses which will be built at the cost of about RM10bil over the next three years.
“People in Penang will be the first to register and benefit from the Government's affordable urban housing programme,” PR1MA Berhad's chief executive officer Datuk Mutalib Alias told a media briefing yesterday.
He said work on the 333ha PR1MA Seremban project was expected to begin early next year while parcels of urban land in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang, Johor, Malacca, Sabah and Sarawak had been identified for the project.
“PR1MA will develop 50,000 homes while the additional 30,000 would be built through collaboration with established private developers.
“We will provide affordable units to meet the needs of urban dwellers,” he said.
Mutalib said individuals and married couples with a monthly collective household income of between RM2,500 and RM7,500 a month were eligible to register for PR1MA homes.
Landed and high-rise properties are priced between RM100,000 and RM400,000.
He said PR1MA adopted a flexible definition of eligible household income so family members who qualified could also register individually.
Mutalib said applicants could list five areas of choice of locations, adding that they would be alerted of PR1MA projects coming up for balloting via e-mail or SMS.
“An open registration system will be used for PR1MA under which anyone eligible can apply. Balloting for the homes will be independently audited and done in a transparent manner.
He said the PR1MA Act 2012, to come into force on Jan 1, would ensure the fast-track implementation of PR1MA housing projects.
The Act would pave the way for the formation of the PR1MA Advisory Council chaired by the Prime Minister while the Approval Implementation Committee would ease red tape.
Based on a survey carried out in 2009, more than 850,000 people with income of between RM2,500 and RM7,500 a month had not bought their own homes while 1.6 mil of those in the income bracket were home owners.
About 60% of the demand for affordable homes was from Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor, Penang, Pahang and Sabah and Sarawak. - By MARTIN CARVALHO (The Star)
11 comments
This is so pathetic of umno president. In the budget recently, when he announced the PR1MA, Penang was not even in the list and eventually we know that on 0.5% of the allocation to build the cheap housing is allocated to Penang. And now he want to come to Penang to make this so call grand and big announcement! What an idiot he is!!! I am a MALAY and proud to be a MALAY but I am so ashame of having a Malay leader like Najib who is so hipocratic and willing to go so low in morale by cheating and intermidating people when he is desperate to keep his power. Message to Najib is this......MELAYU PENANG tak sebodoh yg kamu sangka......and our Chinese and Indian friend are far smater ...so stop wasting your time here!!
Ya, we all are friend here in Penang, tak da kira bangsa and kaum. Only own-kaya Umno leaders making hubungan kaum sensitif.
as printed on front page of The STAR it was made to announce as though 80000 is to be launched & built in Penang. But the catch is registration to start in Penang only with no committed number of units. But project will start work on Seremban and not Penang next year.
It is the UMNO led government that did not care about housing inflation, and is the one should be responsible for the outcome of unaffordable housing. Your policies encourage speculation by not implementing the right policies to curb speculation. The property market is of rampant speculative activities with the low interest rate, extended loan period, permitted DIBS, low RPGT tax etc. What did you do in the 2012 & 2013 budget .. 5% increase in 1st 2 years. in fact the personal income tax rate is much higher than this. The BN ministers are not doing the proper job but instead good at creating panic environment and speculative statements are some of causes pushed up the house price:
http://www.apartment-penang.com/2011/04/inflation-and-demand-to-lift-property.html
http://www.apartment-penang.com/2011/10/chor-sees-no-property-asset-bubble.html?showComment=1318765469029#comment-c3913596909539118874
It is your policies all this while that make the rich richer and the poor poorer, so that majority of the people will be poorer and you can fool the poor in every election with your promises towards the weakness of the poor.
It is the federal's fiscal policies that favour speculation. Of course, being a corrupt government can make more in stamping charges with more speculative buying/selling.
At least the Penang state has done something to curb speculation by implementing the 1 Mil & 2 Mil limit on foreign purchase for condo & landed property.
Najib visited Penang yesterday and he said that if BN wins Penang we will get a monorail and 20,000 affordable houses.
I don't understand why he is still the PM. He is a public servant and he is suppose to be working for the public.
Whether BN wins or doesn't win Penang, we deserve the monorail and the houses.
Not to mention Penang pays the most taxes and gets the least aid from the federal government. Yet we are still the best state in Malaysia.
It is time for change.
Hi jeremy tan,
I agree with you. BN as the federal gov and DAP as the state gov should both be responsible for the well being of the people, and in this context, affordable housing. So far DAP has done more harm than good by not doing anything to stop rampant profiteering, but we'll see what BN can do.
It will be interesting to see what kind of housing the federal can build for the people. If they do it right (which is not that difficult considering they already have UDA which is already quite experienced in Penang after Brezza, Simfonia and Vantage), build nice, sell cheap, put in mechanism to make sure people don't abuse the subsidy given, I would then be surprised if the people of Penang don't go back to BN.
In fact, BN could go beyond housing. There's a lot of room for improvement in terms of tertiary education. The quota issue has been something that the people has been holding a grudge.
Condomana
Where the hell is your facts that DAP had done more harm than good? Haven you read SP Cheliah public housing project? Batu Kawan public housing project? DAP had NOT even 5years in power in this tiny state of Penang with limited resouces of in-come + income tax paid by Penangites to Federal that only very little came back to funding Penang development. I am of the opinion that DAP lead government had done a good job. The first 2 years in power DAP had been cleaning up BN shits and set the account right, so it must be only the last two years that they started to get into action......and you are condenming them for not doing enough??? OMG!!!!
Now tell me for 50 YEARS of UMNO-BN everybody know gerakan is just a puppet, lets not kidding our self) have they build enough public housing??? Yes they build some,Riffle Range, Nordin Ghaut, Tmn Free school etc. But I am benchmarking agaist 50% of Singapore public housing for same governing period right after MERDEKA.....I don't see that even 10% of the public housing that BN build in Penang to what had been build by Singapore to its Rakyat.
Seem like you look high on UDA.....OMG!!!! Brezza is not cheap, no ordinary malay, chinese or indian can afford Brezza...may be only umno cronies like you. Pangsapuri Bayan Permai is an example how disgrace UDA is on building medium cost apartment.....after failing they sub it to JKP just to wash their hand off.
Dear malaysian,
I can feel you are very passionate about Penang. We are on the same boat. Me condemning DAP? No lah, don't be too sensitive. I merely said "....not doing anything to stop rampant profiteering". I understand they are busy. I am not sure how long they need to come up with a strategy to make sure Penang people don't use too much of their future money to pay for those over inflated properties. Oh yes, I have heard of Batu Kawan. But other than that, the people haven't heard much since. Is it same old low cost flats?
condomana,
Perhaps if the government would be more democratic, having main stream media report more accurately on both sides, I am sure that you will not be so ignorant about what is the Penang state government doing.Read less utusan, cross reference your information with malaysiakini or insider or blogsites. We should only be loyal to principles not politician no matter who they are.
@ Condomana
I seriously think DAP did a very good job in Penang. I have seen massive improvements in governance, transparency and accountability.
It is not only Penang that is facing this property appreciation. The same goes for KL and Johor. Everything doubled over the past 3 years.
I don't see why i should vote BN. If you are truly love Penang, you would vote for change because the change we see today is something that we can only dream of when we were kids.
I am tired of race politics and double standards.
I just want a fair and free market. Hard working talented people that thrives for what they want. In return for their contribution they get rewarded.
Who buys a property and doesn't expect it to appreciate? Honestly answer me that.
There are many affordable cheap houses across the bridge or at Balik Pulau.
Every wants to stay at New York and when they hear New Jersey or Brooklyn they dismiss it.
Not everyone can live the American Dream even though you are white and you are born in America. It is not about race or your origins. Just have to work harder, save and invest. Capitalism only rewards talents and hard working people who saves and invest.
instead of asking why are the properties so expensive that is pretty much straight forward to us.
Inflation of assets from money printing and low interest rates.
Please dont mention about foreigners because they participation is so minimal that we need more of it. At least Penang is doing something by setting a limitation to what the foreigners can buy for condos and landed properties.
Penang is still relatively cheap compared to many Asian countries.
The question you should be asking is why isn't our income increasing?