Talk to Bank Negara, Shareda urged

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KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman has urged Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda) to engage Bank Negara in discussions on its proposal to ease stringent procedures for housing loan applications.

“The stringent procedures on loan applications are imposed by Bank Negara due to increasing household debts in Malaysia. I hope Shareda will find ways to dialogue with Bank Negara on this and other matters,” he said in his speech for the opening of Propex 2014 here yesterday.

The text of Musa’s speech was read by Minister of Special Tasks Datuk Teo Chee Kang, who also officiated at the event on his behalf.

Shareda has over the years vocally called for the banking authorities to relax their stringent credit vetting imposed against home loan applicants, especially the low and medium income group.

The tight requirement, said the association, hampers the government’s vision of ensuring all citizens can own a home as most government and government-private developed housing would not be taken by the target group due to difficulties in finding loans.

Meanwhile, Musa said the State Government acknowledged the importance of the property sector to the State’s economy and were mindful of the developers’ worries and constraint in implementing their projects.

He said issues brought up by Shareda were being carefully looked into but the authorities must practise caution because while a decision may bring about resolution to a particular issue, it may create a set of new problems.

“Take for example Shareda’s push for the gazettement of the draft local plans for Penampang, Tawau, Lahad Datu, Kota Kinabalu and other towns.

“This sort of long-term planning involves so many departments, agencies and spheres of concerns that if we were to expedite it, we could be guilty of being reckless or short sighted.

“Therefore, we need every party, including organisations like Shareda, to work with us in finding the best solutions,” he said.

On Shareda’s call to reduce the 999-year lease to 99 years when a master title is sub-divided, Musa said he has been assured by the Attorney General’s office the suggestion and its many far-reaching implications were being thoroughly studied.

Similarly, the same was being done on the proposal to ease the conversion of Native Title Land for property development and subdivision.

“While on the one hand we want to make it easier for land to be converted for development, we are cautious about indiscriminate conversion which will undermine the very core principle upon which Native Title safeguard was put in place all those years ago,” he said.

On the issue of civil servants’ lack of home ownership, Musa said the government was responding and will soon implement the construction of 1,000 units of Perumahan Penjawat Awam Satu Malaysia (PPA1M), an affordable home scheme for civil servants, those working with government-linked agencies and statutory bodies.

At the same time, he said a few thousand units of affordable apartments will be built in collaboration with PR1MA in major towns such as Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Lahad Datu and Tawau.