KUCHING: The Ministry of Housing is adamant to flood the housing market in Sarawak by constructing more affordable homes to counter the runaway cost of properties.
According to Housing Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg, these houses will be sold under RM300,000 to benefit low and medium income earners.
“At this juncture, we (ministry) have to intervene to reduce the burden of Sarawakians to buy their own homes,” Abang Johari told reporters after the closing of the Maal Hijrah celebration at Masjid Jamek yesterday.
He also cited an example in Kota Samarahan where the price of a double storey terrace was RM170,000 in 2011.
Within a span of three years, the same property now is priced at RM320,000 due to several factors such as land value and rising demand.
On another front, he said 3,000 units of Rumah Mampu Milik (affordable homes under Budget 2015) will be constructed in Petra Jaya, Kota Samarahan, Bintulu and Miri. Under the scheme, a single storey terrace house will be sold at RM170,000.
Meanwhile, Abang Johari who is also Lembaga Kebajikan Masjid Negeri Sarawak (LAKMNS) vice-chairman, revealed that there are only a few cases of abandoned mosque projects in the state.
This, he said, is mostly due to the shortage of funds even though the site for the mosque has been identified and approved.
“This is especially true at new housing resettlements where sourcing for funds is quite difficult. On the other hand, it is also rather hard for the government to bear 100 per cent of the construction costs,” he added.
Among the new methods which can be carried out by the villagers to build their own mosque, he said, is to source for their own building materials through the ‘wakaf’ concept, besides pooling in monetary resources.