Fatimah (seventh right) is seen during a photo call outside Hussin’s new house.
DALAT: A total of 49,614 eKasih recipients in Sarawak had applied for the Housing Assistance Programme (PBR) as of Nov 5.
Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said this when presenting houses under the National Blue Ocean Project Strategy 7: My Beautiful Neighbourhood 2015 at Kampung Boom, Oya recently.
From that figure, 26,422 recipients applied for the aid to repair their existing houses and 23,192 applied for the construction of new houses.
A total of 16,499 applications have been approved so far this year.
Fatimah said RM153,366 was allocated to GiatMara for the house repairs programme, which benefited 15 applicants.
The Ministry of Rural and Regional Development was allocated over RM328.5 million of which RM115.9 million was for house repairs and the remainder for the construction of new houses.
“The allocation has benefited 15,489 recipients in the state,” she said.
She said the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government was allocated about RM3.9 million – RM335,488 for house repairs and about RM3.6 million for the construction of new houses, which benefited 100 households.
The Selangau District Office also had one recipient under the house repairs programme, which cost about RM12,000, while the Coordination and Implementation Unit received RM380,000 benefiting 29 households.
The Federal Development Office for the state assisted 505 households from 2011 to 2012 under the programme at a cost of RM19.2 million.
Meanwhile, fishmonger Hussin @ Lai Sahari’s new house was completed on Nov 4.
He earns about RM800 a month to support his wife and two daughters, one aged five and the other an infant.
Construction on the new house began in August, after his old house was destroyed in a fire.