Goh (right), accompanied by Shareda Nite 2015 organizing chairman and the association’s hon. Treasurer general Wesley Chai Meng Kong (middle), handing over Shareda’s RM32,500 contribution for victims and families of the June 5 earthquake this year to Dr Joachim.
KOTA KINABALU: The government is not resting on its laurels when it comes to property development plan approvals, said Local Government and Housing minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor.
“On the subject of the joint memorandum submitted to my ministry recently, I would like to assure Datuk (Francis) Goh and his fellow developers that the recommendations are being studied very closely,” he said at the Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda) Nite 2015 on July 31.
“If there is one thing I would like to say, and categorically so, is that the government, or the Central Board, does not have a policy or a habit of sitting on a development plan longer than necessary.
“Having said that, I am not in any way denying the developers’ frustration over the length of time it took to approve the development plans.
“We in the ministry are fully aware that delay translates into cost and cost is ultimately passed to house buyers.
“I think I have said on a different occasion that bureaucracy is necessarily a clumsy monster because of the stipulated processes that the department and agencies are mandated to abide by.
“Will the ‘top-down’ approach recommended on the memorandum amount to usurping the authorities vested in the complex network of departments and agencies? This is among the questions that came to mind immediately,” added Hajiji, whose speech was read by his assistant minister Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam.
Nevertheless, Hajiji reiterated that he would give the memorandum a serious consideration and stressed that the ministry was motivated by the proactive approaches of Shareda.
He lauded Shareda’s new crop of social conscious business leaders and their commitments towards sharing the government’s burden with the commencement of building 10,000 units of affordable houses in Sabah within less than five years.
However, Hajiji also acknowledged Shareda’s concern that cyclical up-and-down effects of the economy have made it hard for Malaysians to qualify for housing loans and banks to approve the banking facilities.
“The decline in property launch in Sabah in the first half of this year was, I believe, a result of the cyclical effects. I noted the concerns expressed by Datuk Goh on the various contributing factors such as GST, security and stringent banking policies,” said Hajiji.
“I must admit as a member of the state cabinet, it is difficult to determine a policy that suits all economic sectors, nor make a decision that will cure everyone’s headache.
“However, my ministry will convey the proposal made by Shareda to the Finance Ministry and our Prime Minister, to seriously study the possibility for banks to assist the first time house buyers who purchase affordable housing schemes providing automatic 100% loan approval as an obligation in performing their CSR too.
“I am confident that we will tackle the challenges as they emerge, when we work together,” he concluded.
Earlier on in his speech, Shareda president Datuk Francis Goh affirmed that the association would build 5,000 affordable housing units in Kota Kinabalu as well as in Tawau in 2015 and reiterated its call for the government to impose affordable housing quota loans to the banks in the country.
“This quota will compel banks to perform their corporate social responsibilities by granting automatic 100% loan to first-time buyers of affordable homes.
“Bankers should not fear giving the full loans because most of the affordable homes such as those built by PR1MA (1Malaysia People’s Housing Program), PPA1M (1Malaysia Civil Servants’ Housing Program) and Shareda are 20% cheaper than the prevailing market price,” he said.
He emphasized, in case of foreclosures or auction, banks can easily recover their principal amount above forces sale value.
“Developers have been forced to build a lot of low cost homes for the past two decades, and these projects bear higher risk as compared to each bank giving away CSR loans for, say up to 250 units per branch. By doing this, we can realize the half a million homes ownership dream promoted by the Prime Minister,” he said.
Shareda together with a few professional bodies in Sabah such as Pertubuhan Arkitek Malaysia, The Institution of Engineers Malaysia, Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia, Malaysia Institute of Planners and Sabah Law Association collectively drafted a joint memorandum to Hajiji regarding the ‘top down’ process proposal for the acquirement development plans (DP) approval.
“The problem of lengthy processing of development plans has been a major problem faced by developers in Sabah for decades. We are pleading for a change,” he reiterated.
“The memorandum, in a nutshell, calls for the expedient gazetting of the draft local pan and to adopt a ‘top down’ fast-track approach to the approval of development plans.
“We want the DP approval period can be shortened from 30 months to 12 months.
“We are waiting for Datuk Seri to nod his head tonight,” he said while jokingly pointing out that the minister was not able to do so as he was not present at the ceremony that night.