He said a study of the Housing Development Act had been conducted and he hoped some of the amendments would be more effective in dealing with problems involving housing and developers.

“The ministry will be looking into them and I think if the people can wait patiently a little longer, these problems can be resolved,” he said at the Thaipusam celebration at the Subramaniar Temple in Gunung Cheroh, here.

Commenting on the problem of “sinking” houses at Pengkalan Indah here, highlighted about two weeks ago, he said it was not a new problem since most of the new housing development areas were located on old mining land.

He said the government and his ministry were making all efforts to ensure such problems would not happen again in future.

“Developers must not think of profits all the time. They should realize that after they have completed the houses, people, will bring their families to live there.

This should be taken into consideration.

“Developers should be more humane than to place emphasis only on the cost aspects.
“If they fail to provide safe houses, it will reflect on their reputation.

“People do not want to lose their lives,” he said.

He said the local authorities could learn, rectify and correct any problems now and ensure that they will not recur in the future.

“The authorities should decide and be satisfied whether or not the houses are fit for occupation,” he said.

Kayveas also said he hoped the federal government would study the possibility of declaring Thaipusam a public holiday in the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur.

He said this would help prevent traffic jams in the city.

“We will make a proposal and study it. We will look into this matter seriously,” Kayveas said.