No allowance hike for reps yet, says Johor MB

JOHOR BARU: The state government has rejected a proposal to review the allowances of assemblymen, says Mentri Besar Datuk Osman Sapian.

He said his administration was less than a year old and still had a lot more to accomplish.

“Assemblymen have to prove that we really serve the rakyat who have given us their trust. As a cost-saving measure, the salaries of state exco have been cut by 10%,” said Osman.

Separately, State Housing and Rural Development Committee chairman Dzulkefly Ahmad said Johor had 5,988 unsold properties valued at RM3.8bil.

The properties include serviced apartments and properties valued at between RM500,000 and RM1mil.

He said this indicated a mismatch between demand and supply, especially with developers trying to make the most profits by building more high-end properties.

The property overhang, said Dzulkefly, had a “silver lining” as the people would benefit from a price correction of the unsold units.

He said the state’s housing sector should be reformed to ensure 100,000 affordable homes could be built by 2023.

“We need to reform in terms of building, distribution, financing and reducing cost.

“There is a lot of weakness which can be manipulated by unscrupulous developers,” he said.

On the development of orang asli, Dzulkefly said there were 60 villages with 14,618 people statewide.

Among the problems faced by the community include access to clean water, electricity, roads, street lights and others including community halls, kindergartens, fishing jetties, fields and surau.

“This year we have allocated some RM1.7mil from the Orang Asli Welfare Department and the Rural Development Ministry for various projects,” he said.