‘Emulate Penang on affordable housing’
KUCHING: Special assistant to state DAP chairman Abdul Aziz Isa has suggested that BN Sarawak learn from DAP Penang by making affordable housing a priority.
According to him, housing has always remained a critical issue as it is a basic necessity, not LRT or digital village but has not been properly addressed by the Sarawak state government.
Providing more affordable houses will enable more locals, especially first-time buyers and young families from the low and middle income groups, to own their fi rst home.
“Sarawak state government should be more serious in addressing the housing issue faced by the low and middle income groups in Sarawak. This is because there is a huge difference between the number of houses planned and the number of applicants.
“The biggest problem our state is facing right now is the high rejection rate of housing loans involving the low income group who want to purchase limited housing units under the Housing Development Corporation ( HDC) programme. However, it is doubtful whether the BN Sarawak state government have the competency and ability to build affordable houses for the people in the state like what DAP-led state government is doing in Penang,” he added in a press statement on Monday.
He also mentioned that over the past years, 40 per cent of fi rst-time house buyers applying through HDC were not able to secure loans from the banks. The rigid and strict conditions imposed by banks for the loans further compounded the problem. This has caused a double whammy to the state as there is roughly around 35 per cent of Sarawak’s population unable to afford homes below RM340,000 which is very alarming.
Hence he opined that the BN Sarawak state government should reduce the affordable housing price under HDC programme to ease first- time buyers to secure housing loans from the local banks, increase supply of affordable housing to bridge the gap between supply and demand through mandatory private sector participation, cater to the housing needs of the low and middle income communities and improve the minimum specifications of low- cost housing units to meet the higher expectations of house buyers.
“Sarawak is blessed with an abundance of natural resources and our state financial reserve stands at RM30 billion. So, why can’t the state government allocate 10 per cent of our financial reserve to provide affordable housing for Sarawakians?
“If Penang government can provide an affordable house at a cost of RM42,000 despite land scarcity and lack of natural resources, why can’t our Sarawak BN state government led by PBB provide affordable houses for the people of Sarawak?” he questioned.