Govt committed to providing affordable housing despite facing rising property values

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government is also facing a challenge of ensuring the welfare of the urban poor, especially city dwellers living in public and private low-cost or People's Housing Project (PPR) flats.

"In facing those challenges, the government through the Federal Territories Ministry had recently launched the guide to implement redevelopment of Kuala Lumpur in old and uneconomical areas, such as at the Sri Labuan Public Housing," he said at the handing over ceremony of housekeys to owners of the new Residensi Razakmas2 apartments here today.

He said the guide was also aimed to ensure that those areas would be given a facelift to make them vibrant and competitive which would also increase their property values.

That guide, he said was only part of the government's initiative to help the people to own affordable and comfortable houses.

The Prime Minister said the government had given so much aid and assistance to people from all walks of life over the past year, including spending RM40 million to carry out maintenance work at all low- and medium-cost flats and apartments.

“This includes the work to fix the roof and staircases, paint the buildings and repair utilities at 63 housing projects under DBKL (Kuala Lumpur City Council) as well as 13 projects in Sabah. All these were done to ensure the people’s welfare and safety,” he said.

Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said the completion of the Residensi Razakmas 2 project after a 10-year delay was also proof of the sincerity, focus and efforts given by the government to ensure people’s wellbeing.

He also shared the joy of 395 owners of Residensi Razakmas2, all of whom were residents of Sri Labuan flats, who received the keys to their new units which are bigger and more comfortable compared to their old one- or two-room flats measuring between 400 and 528 sq ft.

“I want to congratulate the 395 residents who received their units at Residensi Razakmas2 free of charge, and also to 245 others who were offered ownership at a subsidised price of RM198,000.

“After the redevelopment initiative, residents of Sri Labuan flats will be getting their own units at Residensi Razakmas2 each measuring 805 sq ft with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

“The project is also equipped with covered car parks, a multipurpose hall and a children playground,” he said.

The Prime Minister added that the current market value of property in the area is around RM300,000, which is 10 times higher than the price of RM21,000 to RM28,000 they paid when they purchased the flats.

Also present at the event was Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

Meanwhile, Annuar told reporters that DBKL was also planning to redevelop the 10-acre site of Sri Labuan flats with more affordable houses.

“Of course, we will redevelop the site because it's a part of our urban renewal programmes. We will demolish it (the old flats) later and more affordable homes will be built in the area. With 10 acres, we should be able to build another 3,000 affordable homes,” he said.

He said owners of Sri Labuan flats also received cash aid of RM3,000 for one-room house owner or RM7,000 for two-room house owner to help them move into their new homes at Residensi Razakmas2.

They can also request to use DBKL lorries to help in the moving out process, he added.