SPNB launches Bumi housing project in Pahang

01/04/2006 NST

Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd (SPNB), a housing development unit under the Minister of Finance Inc, has launched its latest single-storey terrace housing project in Pahang.

Called Taman Pulai Idaman, the 16.4-acre project near Temerloh will offer a range of affordable houses targeted at Bumiputera buyers from the low- and medium-income brackets.

According to SPNB, the project is offering units at a downpayment as low as RM150, and qualified buyers can even opt for a special financial package for loans of up to 135 per cent.

The houses, comprising three main types, range from RM35,000 to RM143,896. There will be 42 units of low-cost single-storey terraces with a built-up space of 700sq ft; 58 low-medium cost single-storey terraces with 750sq ft; and 77 units of medium-cost single-storey terraces of 850sq ft.

Buyers of the low-cost units, SPNB said, can expect to pay low monthly repayments on their loan, at not more than RM300 for a 100 per cent loan spread over 30 years.

Also available in the project are three units of single-storey shoplots priced from RM90,000.

The project was officially launched on March 4 by Pahang State Executive Councillor Datuk Mohd Soffi Abdul Razak and among those present were State Assemblyman Mohd Hamdan Sudin and SPNB senior general manager Datuk Khairudin Samad.

According to Khairudin, the project is a reflection of the Government’s desire to provide affordable housing for the low-income group, especially to those living in squatter areas and those who are yet to have their own homes.

“By focusing on affordable houses, we will be filling the vacuum caused by a lack of supply in this range,” he said. “Our aim is to help those in the low- and medium-income groups to own a house.”

Apart from that, Khairudin said, SPNB is also targeting Government servants as they normally stay in Government quarters during the course of their employment and rush to get a house when they come close to retirement.

Taman Pulai Idaman is due for completion by July next year. The project is located a few kilometres from the Termeloh town centre and is accessible via East Coast Expressway, which will allow future residents to reach Kuantan in less than than 45 minutes.

SPNB’s other ongoing affordable housing developments in Pahang include projects in Cherating and in Sungei Puteri in Rompin.

In another development recently, SPNB signed an agreement with the Sarawak State Government’s Housing Development Commission (HDC) to develop a housing project in the State.

Under the deal, SPNB will build houses for low-income families on State Government land or on individual land owned by Sarawakians aged below 66 years and earning less than RM1,000 a month in a scheme dubbed “Skim Rumah Mesra Rakyat Kampung Extension”.

The HDC’s duties under the deal will be to manage the developments, especially in matters pertaining to ownership and repayments by individual owners.

The two organisations are targeting the construction of over 1,000 units State-wide by the end of the year and plan to start with 196 houses in Kampung Bako in Kuching, and in Kampung Petanak in Mako in the near future.

Houses under the project will come in the standard three bedrooms and two baths form, and will vary in built-up sizes from 700sq ft to 1,000sq ft, depending on available land space.

Buyers will only have to pay two-thirds of the house cost, which is RM38,000, and the repayment period will be 32 years.