No plans to sell PPR homes

‘Giving ownership unwise due to Sabah’s squatter issue’

TAWAU: There is no immediate plan to allow people in Sabah to buy the houses they are renting under the People’s Housing Programme (PPR) policy.

National Housing Department director-general Datuk Abu Bakar Hassan said giving ownership instead of renting out the houses might not be suitable because of the squatter issue in the state.

However, he said the department would discuss with the state government the possibility of implementing home ownership for those under the PPR scheme.

“We need to look at suitable schemes for permanent ownership, but we must solve the squatter problem first,” he said after handing over 500 units of PPR houses at Taman Samarak here on Saturday.

He said tenants of PPR houses in peninsular Malaysia were offered ownership after occupying their houses for more than 10 years.

Abu Bakar noted that the state government was more concerned that housing projects under the PPR scheme are completed in the shortest possible time.

He also called on contractors to complete their task so that the houses could be rented soon.

Abu Bakar said the Federal Government aims to build 64,131 units of PPR houses nationwide, of which 59,874 units have been completed and the remaining 24,257 was still under construction.