KOTA KINABALU: MCA Penampang has pledged to assist the 18 families in Kampung Peringatan to rebuild their houses.
The 18 families had lost their houses when a fire broke out in the village early this week.
According to MCA Penampang deputy chief Francis Goh, the division had appointed an architect to help design the houses and would also assist the victims to apply with Syarikat Perumahan Nasional Berhad (SPNB) for assisrance to build the houses.
SPNB has the Rumah Mesra Rakyat scheme which allocates RM50,000 to each applicant who has his or her own land to build a house, he said.
Goh added that they will try their best to fulfil the pledge within three months, but stressed that the approval of the allocation for the construction of the house depends on SPNB.
“The appointed architect will be designing a simple layout for a house with three rooms, a kitchen and others,” he said,
Goh, who is also SHAREDA president, added that MCA Penampang would be discussing with UMNO Penampang chief Datuk John Ambrose to see what else they could do to assist the fire victims.
He said that John would assist in getting some additional allocation from Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal to be used towards building the houses.
“I will also request John to send a bulldozer to the site of the fire so that clearing works can be expedited. This will make it easier to divide the lots for the contructuion of the new houses,” Goh said.
Meanwhile, MCA Penampang chief Datuk Paul Kong, who was also present at Kapung Peringatan yesterday, handed RM500 each together with other donations such as rice and food items to the heads of the families involved.