Federal government committed to continuing with PPR, introduced four decades ago

MELAKA: The People's Housing Project (PPR) is an ongoing commitment of the federal government to providing a housing programme that has been given a new life and direction since it was introduced four decades ago.

Housing and Local Government Minister (KPKT), Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican said the programme was a moral and social obligation of the federal government at every level to ensure that those in need be provided with affordable housing, especially the B40 group.

"The PPR started in 1982, during the 4th Malaysia Plan, and known as Low-Cost Public Housing. The ministry will ensure that the housing agenda for the people would always be boosted and improved.

"This is similar to the initiative of the Melaka government which offers the Rent-to-Own scheme to Malaysian families through the PPR Tehel and PPR Krubong. This is the right step in helping the people to own a home instead of renting," he said in his speech at the launching of the Rent-to-Own PPR Tehel and PPR Krubong by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali.

Reezal said the price floor and opportunity to apply for a PPR were further enhanced with the latest household income and the current increasingly challenging economic situation.

He said this was to ensure that the provision of PPR with a sufficiently high subsidy could benefit the people in need, taking into account the social mobility that would occur in the long term.

"For the state of Melaka, we have been able to provide six PPR projects including three with 1,436 units which have been completed and occupied, namely, PPR Sungai Putat, PPR Tehel and PPR Krubong.

"Two other projects with 375 units are under construction, namely, PPR Pulau Gadong which is expected to be completed in December 2023 and PPR Tangga Batu, to be completed in January 2023 while one project with 300 units is in the planning stage, which is PPR Jasin," he said.

The minister said overall, the federal government had committed to spending around RM354 million for the construction of all six PPR projects in Melaka.

-- BERNAMA