Build-first-sell-later concept will affect supply drastically

26/06/2003 NST

THE "build first sell later" concept as a means to help house buyers and overcome the problem of abandoned housing projects will create a set of different problems.

Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui said many developers would not be able to embark on housing projects and supply would drop drastically.

"Buyers will in turn suffer when house prices soar." He said the ministry, in its efforts to ensure that house buyers were not short-changed, would use the recently-passed amendment to the Housing Development Act to rectify weaknesses of the housing sector.

Chin, replying to Lee Kah Choon (BN-Jelutong), said the Government would continue to look at procedures to protect house buyers' rights and would be on the lookout for unreliable developers.

He told the House that until the end of last year, 82 abandoned housing projects were reported, affecting 22,658 house buyers.

Meanwhile, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh, in reply to Datuk Othman Abdul (BN-Pendang) said the role of Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd in undertaking the construction of low-cost houses would in the long run help eliminate squatter problems.

At present, areas that required low-cost housing badly were in Johor's major towns, the Klang Valley and Penang.

Shafie also said the SPNB had completed a special relocation programme for squatters affected by the Rawang-Ipoh double-tracking project and squatters in Kampung Lumbak in Sabah.