It is comforting that the Housing and Local Government Ministry is finalizing
its memorandum to the Cabinet for a decision on the build- and-sell, sell-and-build
and any other schemes to finance a house.
Never has the ministry done so much research on this issue. It now provides
on its website information on developers who have flouted the law. This is a
most important development in people-oriented governance.
The outcry over the build- and-sell concept is derived from the troubles of
house buyers when projects fail developers abscond or become bankrupt.
Legal agreements in such cases cannot really help the buyer who has to continue
repaying his housing loan.
Further more even build- and-sell and better enforcement by the authorities
is no guarantee that rogue developers will be totally phased out.
What must cease is the continued liability of buyers, especially of low- and
medium-cost houses, to pay for the developer's default.
The nation undoubtedly enjoys a higher standard of living but middle and lower
income groups cannot afford to pay for a house they can- not get. How their
welfare can be ensured has to be looked into and not evaded.
