Flats, Condos Only In Certain Areas, Says Johari

10/10/2004 Bernama

KUCHING, Oct 10 (Bernama) -- The Sarawak Government will allow private developers to build flats and condominiums only in certain areas in Kuching City and towns, Housing Minister Datuk Seri Abang Johari Tun Openg said Sunday.

He said that Sarawak, unlike Singapore, had plenty of land for affordable housing.

Abang Johari said the Sarawak Housing Development Corporation's own experience of building so-called low-cost flats had not been a good one due to problems in maintenance.

He also said that the Sarawak Housing Developers Association had also complained to him recently about the slow process in the issuance of strata titles for completed housing projects like flats and condominiums.

Without the strata titles, it would be difficult to get bank financing and loans, he told reporters after officiating at the opening of the new premises of the Sarawak Kaying Community Association in MJC City, Batu Kawah, in the suburbs of Kuching City.

There was a need to look at the mechanism of providing strata titles in Sarawak, he said. -- BERNAMA