By Suganthi Suparmaniam
2009/01/12
KUALA LUMPUR: A “special purpose vehicle” will be set up to deal with abandoned housing projects. Despite the global economic slowdown, the Housing and Local Government Ministry hopes to build at least 80,000 new houses this year.
“Some 140 types of businesses like manufacturing, building materials, architects and financial institutions rely heavily on the housing industry.
“It is up to the ministry to ensure the industry stays vibrant throughout the year,” Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said after handing over keys to housebuyers of a revived housing project in Bukit Jalil.
“The special purpose organisation will have legal expertise, as well as expertise in technical issues, land management and other aspects of reviving abandoned projects,” Ong added.
It will also have financial facilities, like being able to provide soft loans, when developers run into trouble, he said.
The housebuyers of the Jalil Sutera project, who received their keys yesterday, had worked with the developer for three years to get it completed.
Insurance agent Goh Eng Choo said when she found out that the project had been abandoned in 2005, she and other buyers set up a committee to protect their purchases.
“I’m happy our team’s hard work has paid off,” she said.
There are 193 houses in the project, and the remaining 62 housebuyers have been promised their homes by August.
Ong said out of 270 abandoned projects, 126 have been revived by the original or other developers, and 115 have the potential to be revived.
© Copyright 2009 The New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad. All rights reserved.”
No comments:
Post a Comment