NAHP, to be chaired by Dr Mahathir, aims to build 1m affordable homes within 10 years

By AFIQ AZIZ

The government has lowered the floor price for affordable homes to RM95,000 with a minimum of 900 sq ft area in the newly launched National Housing Policy (NHP) 2018-2025.

Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said the move to lower the floor price is in tandem with the government’s effort to offer more opportunities for the bottom 40% category (B40) to own properties as outlined in the National Affordable Housing Policy (NAHP).

The NAHP, which is overseen by the National Affordable Housing Council (NAHC) that is chaired by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad — aims to build one million affordable houses within 10 years, or about 100,000 a year, as pledged in the Pakatan Harapan election manifesto.

According to Zuraida, in the council meeting attended by the chief of states earlier this month, most states have agreed to develop more than 100,000 affordable homes in the country this year.

She said 54% of the projects would be spearheaded by Housing and Local Government Ministry (KPKT), while the remaining would be shared between state governments and private developers.

As a start, Zuraida said KPKT has agreed to build 2,200 units with TISY Sdn Bhd on 121.4ha of land in Rawang, Selangor.

She said TISY will bear the whole planning and developing cost, while the ministry will allocate the land to the company.

“The project must be built according to our new specification, terms and conditions which is capped at below RM300,000 at 900 sqft built-up area, as well as providing sufficient facilities that could be enjoyed by the residents,” she told reporters after witnessing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the ministry and TISY in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

She said the prices and built-up area of the project would be defined based on the median income of the people in the particular area.

“The beginning price could be as low as RM95,000 per unit, (depending on the median income of the residents in the area),” she said, adding that the area would also be surrounded by mixed development including commercial projects in order to close the gap between B40 and M40 (Middle 40) groups.

Should the project materialise, the maiden development slated for construction this year would also be the first affordable housing project spearhead by the Pakatan Harapan government.

Apart from TISY, KPKT also inked an MoU with Pembinaan Kery Sdn Bhd to build about 400 units of youth transit homes in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur.

Both projects, as well as all affordable housing constructions, are expected to use the Industrialised Building System (IBS) technology.

Earlier yesterday, Zuraida launched the new NHP 2018-2025 — the parent policy to the NAHP.

KPKT addressed five focuses, 16 strategies and 57 action plans in the policy, also known as NHP 2.0.

Among others, Zuraida said NHP 2.0 will address the needs of a new big data property system that allows KPKT to have at least five years of projection of the total industry outlook.

“We are talking to relevant agencies and other players to work on this,” she said.

The policy also includes developing more solid guidelines under the Residential Rental Act to protect the interest of both owners and tenants.

It is also expected to introduce a guideline for the “rent-to-own” scheme that will provide more inclusive solutions for the B40 and M40 groups in owning properties.

Last year, Zuraida rationalised and consolidated almost all of the government housing agencies to sit under KPKT’s umbrella including the 1Malaysia People Housing Scheme, Syarikat Perumahan Nasional Bhd and Civil Servant Housing Development.

Meanwhile, in response to NHP2.0, Gamuda Bhd deputy group MD Mohammed Rashdan Yusof said the acceptance of IBS technology will speed up the construction plan under the policy.

“With full Digital BIM (building information modelling) technology, costs and wastage are minimised and yet artistic creativity can flourish with maximum delivery efficiency,” he said in a statement yesterday, adding that the efficiency could lead to saving half of the construction period, which translates to cheaper cost in the development processes.