Sept enforcement for Housing Devt Act

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JOHOR BAHARU: The Housing Development (Control and Licensing) (Amended) Act 2011 which was passed last December will be enforced in September this year, said Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung yesterday.

He hoped that the Act’s stiffer penalties against developers who failed to complete housing projects would reduce such problems.

“Previously we did take action, such as blacklisting irresponsible developers but it was no longer effective, which led to the Act being amended,” he said after presenting replicas of house keys for the Taman Cahaya housing estate in Kota Puteri here, a 334-unit project which had been stalled for more than 10 years before completion.

He also handed over keys to house buyers at the similar fated Taman Mawar in Kulaijaya which has since been completed by Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad.

Chor added that out of the 167 stalled housing projects involving 53,238 units recorded so far, 16,324 units have been completed.

He further noted that another 61 projects with 27,946 houses were in various stages of rehabilitation and were expected to be ready by next year.

Commenting on Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s appointment of a Singaporean consultant for the Batu Kawan people’s housing project, he described it as unreasonable saying there were many local consultants for the job and at a lower cost too.

The Umno liaison committee and Penang MCA were recently reported as questioning Lim’s appointment of Surbana International Consultant to design and draw up plans for a project in Bandar Cassia. — Bernama