Provide incentives for housing developers to bring in new technology - Charon Mokhzani

The government is urged to provide incentives for developers to bring in the latest technology to reduce the cost of home construction and price.

According to Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) managing director, Datuk Charon Mokhzani, this is because the cost of adapting the technology which enables a faster and cheaper construction is very high.

He added, without the incentive, developers will channel the amount into the final cost of the house.

“The cost of this technology is very high. So those who are the first to do it have to bear the high cost. Our recommendation is for the government to give incentives to those who are ready to use the technology and over time the cost will reduce,” said Charon when he attended the forum entitled 'Does Greater Prosperoty Come with Less Housing Affordability?' here today.

An example given by KRI was in the Philippines where a property developer’s company successfully constructed terrace houses using the industrialised building systems (IBS) and is sold at RM60 thousand per unit.

Charon also suggested for the supply of affordable houses to be increased as to balance the demands.

So far, KRI states that the price of houses in Kuala Lumpur and Penang as severely unaffordable.

“The number of people is growing and the development is increasing. So there are higher demands for housing. If this problem is not solved now it will become a bigger problem later,” said Charon.