KUDAT: The BN Government will be building another 500 units of the People’s Housing Programme, or PPR flats, here soon in addition to the 500 units already completed.
State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Hj Hajiji Hj Noor announced this while on a one-day official visit here. It was his first visit outstation since the May 5 election.
As part of his programme, he visited the 500 completed units at Taman Ehsan, alongside local assemblyman Datuk Teo Chee Kang, who is also Special Functions Minister.
According to Hajiji, the completed units will be occupied very soon and priority will be given to qualified locals, especially squatters.
The PPR flats, built by the Federal Housing Department and to be managed by the Kudat Town Board, will be rented out to successful applicants at a monthly rental of slightly more than RM100.
He also said that the Local Government and Housing Ministry agreed with a suggestion by the Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (SHAREDA) for the government to form a special task force on affordable homes, which will be chaired by the Ministry’s permanent secretary and comprise industry players including SHAREDA.
SHAREDA president Francis Goh made the suggestion at a talk on Affordable Home Schemes in Sabah over the weekend.
Hajiji later visited the construction site of the new Kudat Native Court building and was informed that the RM5 million complex will be ready by the end of the year. The earth-breaking ceremony was performed by Hajiji himself last year.
Hajiji, whose Ministry is in charge of the Sabah Native Affairs Council, said similar native court buildings are also being constructed at a few other districts in an effort to uplift the image of the native court as an institution.
In response to a reporter’s question, he clarified that the Kapitan Cina (Chinese community leaders) were not affected by the salary increase of RM200 effective this month because they already had their monthly allowance raised by RM200 last year alongside the Ketua Kampung (village heads).
He explained that the Kapitan Cina rank is equivalent to that of the Ketua Kampung while the salary increase he announced on Sunday was meant for the higher-ranking District Chiefs (OKKs), Native Chiefs and their deputies.
Also present were Hajiji’s two Assistant Ministers, Datuk Zakaria Edris and Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam, as well as his Ministry’s permanent secretary, Datuk Matius Sator.