Build-and-sell concept not deferred

11/09/2008 The Star By Ng Cheng Yee

PETALING JAYA: The build-and-sell concept for houses is not deferred. Despite earlier newspaper reports saying it had been deferred, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan clarified the concept is running parallel with the existing system.

He said the ministry was getting feedback from financial institutions, legal professionals and developers on the feasibility of implementing the concept in the country.

“Currently, there are very few developers who adopt this concept because many financial institutions feel such a system involves greater risks,” he said Thursday after launching the IJM Land Berhad corporate identity here.

Ka Chuan clarified that some housing projects were still carrying out the trial of the concept while the Government was studying the legal and financial aspects of the system.

On another matter, Ka Chuan said currently, 100,000 housing units were being built every year and a total of three million units had been built over the past 27 years.

“Currently, 30,000 units by about 200 developers are being abandoned and we are trying to get ‘white knights’ to salvage these projects,” he said.

He added that all the developers who were involved in abandoned projects had been blacklisted by the Government.

On party matters, Ka Chuan, who is the MCA secretary-general, said the names of 2,188 central delegates would be put up on the party website (www.mca.org.my).

“Unfortunately, we cannot give out their contact details because it involves the confidentiality of the delegates.

“We cannot simply release them before getting their consent,” he said.

On Wednesday, former MCA vice-president Datuk Chua Jui Meng asked party president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting to give candidates free access to the full list of central delegates with telephone numbers and addresses.