8,889 PPRT houses to be built, repaired this year

JOHOR BAHRU: The Ministry of Rural Development ( KPLB) will build and repair 8,889 houses via the Hardcore Poor Housing Programme ( PPRT) this year on a RM200 million allocation.

Its minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun said that 44,430 people would benefit from the programme which comprised the construction of 1,535 units of new houses and the repair of 7,354 old houses.

“As of Dec 15, 2018, 10,841 PPRT units were built and repaired exceeding the 10,550 units target, 817 units were new houses while 10,024 units were existing ones on a RM271 million allocation,’’ she told reporters after chairing a Rural Executive Councillors and Minister Co- ordination Meeting ( MEXCLUB) here yesterday.

Rina said despite the lowering of allocation, the quality and size of the construction of the PPRT houses were not affected with the use of Industrialised Building System ( IBS) and conventional method which simultaneously reduced the cost up to 18 per cent.

She said there was a need to increase the building of new houses compared to repairing existing houses to avoid repeated applications for repairs.

“The meeting today (yesterday) also noted the improvement in the PPRT implementation procedures which included the updating of eKasih data and PPRT recipients list to prevent unqualified people from benefiting,’’ she said. — Bernama