Johor govt to take over low-cost home projects

Guests looking at a model of the Taman Molek affordable apartment blocks at the launch of the project by Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin. -- PHOTO: THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

JOHOR BARU - The Johor state government will clear a backlog of thousands of low-cost and affordable houses by finishing the projects itself and sending the bill to errant developers.

State housing and local government exco member Abd Latiff Bandi said the decision comes following a rising demand for such houses within Iskandar Malaysia, one of the country's most successful economic corridors, The Star reported.

Construction of nearly 180,000 low-cost units has been approved by the Johor government since 1999, but only 21,000 have been completed so far.

Developers have reportedly ignored low-cost projects in favour of constructing luxury houses to rake in profits.

"We are in the midst of gathering details on errant developers within Iskandar Malaysia through the various district offices," Mr Abd Latiff said yesterday.

"Developers who fail to build such houses will be questioned and if they still refuse to do so within a given time frame, the state government will take over the construction and charge the developer for it," he said.

Johor's existing housing policy states that every new housing project will include affordable and low-cost houses, New Straits Times quoted the state's Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, as saying.

Each low-cost unit costs about RM40,000 (S$15,700), while affordable houses are priced at up to RM150,000.

However, as many as 113,000 units are incomplete in the Johor Baru district, while more than 50,000 units are yet to see the light of day in other districts like Batu Pahat and Kulaijaya.

Mr Mohamed Khaled on Sunday warned of stern action against errant developers who have ignored such low-cost projects.

He threatened to freeze their properties, and name and shame those who ignored calls to construct the low-cost houses.

Mr Abd Latiff, speaking yesterday, said another proposal was to make it mandatory for developers to build affordable houses simultaneously with their high-end projects.

"Some of these developers completed building private housing projects as early as 1990 and have left the land plots for low-cost housing vacant," he said. "Our task now is to determine who these errant developers are and take the necessary action against them," he added.