Strong old flats to be retained, Dewan Negara told
15/06/2004 Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR June 15 - Flats built more than 20 years ago will be retained if their structures remained solid, the Dewan Negara was told Tuesday.

However, state governments and local authorities could demolish the old flats when their structures were found to be unsafe, said Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting.

"It is up to the state governments and local authorities to make their own decision to demolish more than 20-year old and unsafe flats and build new ones," he told the House.

He was replying to Senator Datuk Syed Ali Syed Abbas who wanted to know whether the ministry had plans to demolish and replace flats built more than 20 years ago with new ones having more than one room.

To an earlier question by Senator Datuk Omar Faudzar, Ong said the government, through the ministry, had built many low-cost houses under various programmes and when completed, all of them were handed over to state governments and local authorities to be managed.

"The responsibility to repair the house is on the local authority and state government, and the ministry is prepared to give technical aid and consultation if needed," he said, replying to Omar who wanted to know whether the ministry had plans to repair low-cost houses built 10 to 20 years ago.

Answering the original question by Senator Che Jam Harun about the number of uncompleted housing projects, Ong said up to now, there were 99 uncompleted housing projects nationwide.

Replying to an additional question by Senator Lee Sing Chooi about the ability of the Housebuyer Complains Tribunal to handle cases filed, Ong said out of 6,298 cases filed, 2,744 had been solved including 677 which were settled out of court.

The tribunal, set up on Dis 1, 2002, had eight members including a chairman and they could handle each case separately.

"In a day, the tribunal is able to handle 30 to 40 cases and in a month, it can handle 600 to 800 cases," he said.