Zuraida Kamaruddin
PUTRAJAYA: The National Housing Policy which will facilitate home ownership for Malaysians will be introduced by the end of the year, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said today.
She said the new policy will simplify legislation and the borrowing process to help people own homes.
She said the ministry had held meetings with Bank Negara, the Finance Ministry, the Employees Provident Fund, banks, developers’ association and consumer bodies to formulate the new policy.
“The government’s goal was to make it easier for people to own homes. So changes need to be made to legislation, financing and housing concepts,” she told reporters after visiting the Pudina 1Malaysia Civil Servants Housing (PPA1M) project in Precinct 17 here today.
Zuraida also announced that all public housing projects such as the 1Malaysia People’s Housing Project (PR1MA), PPA1M, those by Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd (SPNB) and the Federal Territory Affordable Homes (RUMAWIP), would come under the Housing Ministry in August.
“At present, these projects are managed by different ministries and agencies,” she said.
On whether prices of materials such as cement and bricks would be cheaper after the implementation of Sales and Service Tax (SST), Zuraida said the government’s objective was for houses to be more affordable and to see a drop in prices with the reduction in costs.
With the SST Act which will be implemented on September 1, the sales tax has been fixed at 10 per cent while the service tax is six per cent. – Bernama