KLANG: Mohamed Azmin Ali has refuted claims that Selangor has refused to allocate land for the Federal Governments 1Malaysia People Housing Programme (PR1MA) saying they had to adhere to guidelines if they want to build affordable housing in the state.
“A price tag of RM400,000 per unit is not affordable. The state government has set affordable housing prices at not more than RM250,000 per unit, including those developed by private companies, said the Selangor Mentri Besar.
Azmin said that the state government had never rejected the scheme, and pointed out that the supposedly affordable PR1MA houses were still too expensive for the rakyat.
“If PR1MA wishes to be involved then they have to follow the state’s policy and guidelines,” he said after attending the Rumah Selangorku ground-breaking ceremony at Karya Residence at Kampung Jawa here Saturday.
Azmin was asked to comment on claims that the Selangor government did not want to take part in the Federal Government’s scheme.
“That is not right. Show evidence when we rejected PR1MA,” he said, adding that he had not seen the success of PR1MA in offering affordable housing, other than buying projects from developer and offering them.
He said the state government had the advantage of a big land bank that allowed for minimal land cost in building quality and affordable housing with the participations from reputed developers.
“If big companies such as IJM, Sime Darby and Sin Heap Lee can follow the state guidelines in offering affordable housing, why not PR1MA?
“They have to follow the rules here. There is no way they come and ask for state land and do something that is against the state’s policy,” he added.
Meanwhile, Azmin also said that the state government would propose in the state eco meeting in the next three months to replace the Malay reserved land that were converted to build affordable housing.
“We suggest replacing these land with other land of the same values,” he said, adding that the state would have 366.2ha of Malay reserved land by June.
Source : The Star