Boost use of IBS, allow building of ‘shell houses’, govt urged

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Institute of Professional Property Managers (MIPPM) has suggested the government boost the use of the Industrialised Building System (IBS) and allow the introduction of “shell house” concept to make housing more affordable.

Its president, Sarkunan Subramaniam, said affordable housing is one of the pertinent issues in the Malaysian economy today and in order to provide more houses to the people, there is a need for measures to focus on a number of areas and to find creative ways of implementing them.

Sarkunan, who is also Knight Frank Sdn Bhd managing director, said the use of IBS is effective to bring down costs and the government should further promote its use by more developers and contractors.

In Budget 2016, the government allocated RM500 million for IBS promotion, which was made available through Small Medium Enterprise Development Bank Malaysia Bhd to provide soft loans to developers and contractors in category G5 and below.

Holders of G5 licences are allowed to undertake civil engineering and building construction jobs whose value does not exceed RM5 million.

“Besides pushing for IBS, government could also consider allowing developers to build a ‘shell house’, which is a house without internal structures. This will allow the owners to design according to their needs,” Sarkunan said.

He said this could be another way to make houses more affordable as buyers do not have to pay for houses with standard internal structures that they do not need. – Bernama