pic by AFP

A CALL for tenders on 72 plots of federal government-owned land will be opened in December for the construction of affordable homes, said Housing and Local Government (KPKT) Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.

“At the moment, developers are focused on building more affordable homes given the government’s push to create one million units as promised in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) election manifesto. There is a pulling factor there, the package is attractive for them to construct these houses.

“Recently, I launched 15 affordable home projects by the private sector and by year-end, we hope an open tender for government land can be called,” she said in reply to a question by Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (Barisan Nasional-Lenggong) in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

The developers’ track record — particularly those involved in the affordable housing projects by the private sector — would be taken into consideration during the tender process, Zuraida said.

The landbank was obtained from the consolidation of the 1Malaysia People’s Housing Programme (PR1MA), Malaysia Civil Servants Housing Programme (PPAM) and Syarikat Perumahan Nasional Bhd (SPNB) under the KPKT, the minister had previously revealed.

“We have put together a pool of land under KPKT that would total up to almost 72 plots of land, which are to be launched for the tender soon. We expect an average of 1,000 houses per plot.

“We are currently preparing the tender paper. We hope to do it at least by January 2020,” she said at a pre-launch ceremony for affordable homes by the private sector in Putrajaya on Nov 8.

At the ceremony, 11 developers launched nearly 17,000 units of affordable homes, while Menteri Besar Selangor Inc made a commitment to build 30,000 units.

Construction is expected to begin early next year, with house prices capped under RM300,000 with a minimum size of 900 sq ft.

The first batch of developers included Pembinaan Kery Sdn Bhd, Astana Setia & Euro Saga Sdn Bhd, Besteel Engtech Sdn Bhd, Ekovest Bhd and OCR Group Bhd.

The ministry targets to introduce the second batch of developers for affordable housing projects by the private sector in January.

PH’s first year in administration has seen 386,340 units of affordable homes planned, 181,211 units under construction and 39,864 units completed, Zuraida said.

The target set for private developers is to build 217,765 units within 10 years — an average of 21,776 units per year. Zuraida had reminded developers to appoint reliable property managers for the projects.

“After the projects have been completed, I hope the private developers will take the initiative to form a credible community under the Joint Management Body or Management Corp for the housing (projects), so they will be able to upkeep the standard of the properties.

“We don’t want to face problems where the houses turn into slums,” she said.