| 'Do more for house buyers of stalled projects'
09/11/1999 NST
Penang, Mon. - The Housing and Local Government Ministry
should do more to help house buyers of stalled or abandoned housing projects,
Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said today.
"The ministry, as the lead government agency on housing,
should consider working out a mechanism with Bank Negara and the Treasury, to
relieve the financial burden faced by purchasers of stalled or abandoned housing
projects," he told reporters.
"One way is to allow the affected house buyers to pay either
the interest on the housing loan taken or part of the principal and not both
as the practice is now," he said.
Koh said this to reporters after attending the Penang Gerakan
Deepavali open house held at Dewan Sri Pinang here.
According to him, check with house buyers of stalled or abandoned
housing projects in Penang showed many among them have paid up to 80 per cent
towards their units but their houses were only on the drawing board.
"I have come across many such cases and the house buyers
are very furious and I fully understand their frustrations," he added. Koh did
not state the number of affected house buyers or stalled or abandoned housing
projects in the State.
Koh also urged the Government to review the role of
TPPT Sdn Bhd, a company set up under Bank Negara in 1990 to help revive abandoned
housing projects.
"The company has deviated from its objectives and we should
consider revitalising it or setting up another company to meet TPPT's objectives,"
he said, adding that he had raised the matter with Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In May this year, Koh announced that the State Government
would help revive 21 low-cost housing projects, involving more than 5,300 units,
that have been abandoned since 1997.
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