500 units under special rental housing scheme to be built in Penang

GEORGE TOWN - A total of 500 units of special rental housing scheme for married and single youths will be built through the implementation of the People's Housing Project (PPR) in Kota Giam, Jelutong here.

Penang Housing and Environment Committee chairman Datuk Seri S. Sundarajoo said the project would be developed by the Ministry of Local Government Development (KPKT) on a 0.81-hectare (ha) of land.

"Its development will be implemented by KPKT through an allocation of RM100 million, which was approved through KPKT's Sentuhan Kasih Programme on June 23. The construction of the two blocks is expected to start soon and will take up to 36 months.

"The building design is already in place, while the policies and terms of supply for the units will be submitted to the state authority (PBT) for approval," he told a press conference here today.

Sundarajoo said the project involves a 45-storey block of 500 square feet (sq ft) one-room studio units to be offered to youths who are single and another 44-storey block, comprising 700 sq ft units with three rooms to be offered to youths with families.

In addition, he said the state government will create a new category under Affordable Housing (RMM) Type B2 to ensure that more people in the state can own homes.

"The RMM B2 will be offered at a maximum price of RM100,000 for a 750 sq ft unit with a monthly household income limit of RM5,000 and the matter will be presented to the State Planning Committee (SPC) before being introduced to the people of Penang," he said.

Meanwhile, he said the Penang State Housing Board (LPNPP) launched a campaign to encourage applicants to update data in the housing integrated management system (HIMS) to enable the bidding process to be made.

He said a total of 43,260 applications for RMM A, B and C were in the database system through HIMS until Aug 31 and some of them had not updated their information since 1999.

"Until Aug 31, only 7,686 applicants updated and were categorised as active applicants. The updating is a merit used to make the registration in HIMS remain active and those who have updated will find that their applications stand a better chance to be selected," he said. - BERNAMA