KOTA KINABALU: Seven hundred units of low-cost homes will be built at Taman Pasir Putih in Putatan to house squatters and needy families in the district.
Putatan UMNO deputy chief Haji Arsit Hj Sedi, who is also a board member of the Housing and Town Development Authority, said to date no low-cost houses were available in the newly formed district despite a tremendous need for them.
He said it was time for such houses to be constructed due to the large number of squatters in Putatan, adding that the project costing RM70 million would be carried out next year.
According to Arsit, this initial project could only cater for seven hundred families but he believed that with the acquisition of new areas and with more funding made available, the project would eventually be able to accommodate 1,500 squatter families.
“Putatan has just been upgraded into a district and we are now in the process of acquiring land within our boundary which was previously under the jurisdiction of Penampang District. Only after land has been properly acquired then we will carry out the various projects including the construction of the houses we call ‘Project Perumahan Rakyat’,” he said.
Arsit announced this during a ‘Program Juara Rakyat Parlimen Putatan’ yesterday at the Taman Pasir Putih jetty which according to him was organised with the aim to foster friendship and understanding among the estimated 70,000 people living in Putatan and the surrounding areas.