State govt to come up with its own housing model to help more Sarawakians own houses
Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, Chief Minister (File Photo)
KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg says the prices of houses in the state are extremely high and out of reach of most house buyers.
He pointed out that a semi-detached house may cost about RM600,000 while in premium locations the prices can go up to a RM1 million.
To help more Sarawakians own houses, Abang Johari said the state will design its own brand of housing model within six months with cost of houses that are within reach of house buyers.
“I have a strategy, to have our own brand and with the cooperation of developers we will provide housing at a price of RM250,000 to RM300,000 per unit.
“With that cap, people are able to buy reasonably-priced houses. Perhaps, for the so-called low cost, let the government do them while private developers must provide the medium houses as well as higher end houses,” he said at the launch of Borneo Housing Mortgage Finance Bhd’s new Islamic financing products here yesterday.
“At this stage we are negotiating with developers our plan of having our own brand of housing model.
“We cannot rely on the brand from Kuala Lumpur. We want to have our own product and we want to have our own brand,” he added.
He noted that the move to introduce the state’s own brand of housing models is in line with the government’s initiatives to improve the transport system including the light rail train (LRT) project.
“We are going to embark on a transit oriented development (TOD) programme and having this development principle in place, we may be able to open up our new green areas to build affordable housing.”
He said with good public transport system the state could build new housing settlements, which are near to LRT stations so the people could use the train to go to the city centre.
“And within the new settlements, developers can build houses that cost within the range of RM250,000 to RM300,000 per unit with the space of about 1,000 sq ft and three rooms.
“I hope this new brand will be introduced soon and will enable the people to own reasonably good homes,” he said.