KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 — The government has allocated RM2.47 billion to implement people’s housing project (PPR) next year, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
This included a special RM1 billion guarantee fund to encourage responsible developers to rebuild abandoned projects which have been identified.
256 sick projects or over 28,000 housing units with a RM23.37 billion gross development value have been revived as of August this year.
“In addition, RM546 million will be allocated to continue 36 PPRs, including a new project in Kluang, Johor.
“InsyaAllah, 15 PPRs for 5,100 potential new residents are expected to be completed next year,” he said when tabling Budget 2024 in the Dewan Rakyat today.
14 Rumah Mesra Rakyat projects also continued to build 3,500 housing units for RM358 million. In addition, RM460 million has been allocated to help about 65,000 poor families in rural areas to build new houses or repair dilapidated houses.
RM100 million was allocated for maintaining low- and medium-cost stratified public and private housing nationwide, including repairing water tanks, roofs, cable systems, and installing closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.
Funding for the Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme will be increased to RM10 billion, benefiting 40,000 borrowers.
To facilitate the redevelopment of the strata system, the threshold for residents’ consent to sales within a block will be lowered from 100 per cent to a uniform level, following the model of international practices like in Singapore.
“Under the Unity Government, the government has taken charge of the development of Bandar Malaysia to ensure that strategically important land is optimally utilised for people’s projects based on Madani values,” Anwar said.
The government will also allocate RM100 million to Chinese new villages to provide basic infrastructure and social amenities.
To control property prices, the government plans to impose a flat stamp duty of four per cent on property transfers by non-citizens and foreign-owned companies, except for permanent residents of Malaysia.
“The government is also proposing that next year, the instrument transfer of property’s ownership involving beneficiaries giving up their rights to entitled beneficiaries under a will or faraid (the Islamic law of inheritance) or the Distribution Act 1958 will only be subject to a stamp duty of RM10 instead of ad-valorem stamp duty rate as previously imposed,” he said.
— Bernama
