SABAH PROPERTY NEWS
Malaysian Developers’ Council
Appeals To Government To Resolve
Housing Issues
T
Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar (REHDA President) 3rd left sitting,
Dato’ Ir John Chee Shi Tong, JP (SHAREDA Vice President) 2nd left
sitting, Mr Joseph Wong (SHEDA President) 4th left sitting
he Malaysian Developers’
Council (MDC) which
comprises the Real Estate
and Housing Developers’
Association Malaysia (REHDA), the
Sabah Real Estate and Housing
Developers Association (SHAREDA)
and the Sarawak Real Estate and
Housing Developers’ Association
(SHEDA) convened its 20th meeting
on 6 February, chaired by REHDA
Malaysia president Datuk Seri FD
Iskandar, to deliberate on the state
of the housing industry and express
concern on several matters. Among
them is access to end financing
and cooling measures imposed by
Bank Negara which remains a major
problem to house buyers with
members of the three associations
reporting that loan rejections have
been on the hike where purchasers,
particularly first time home buyers,
are facing great difficulty in securing
housing loans.
The stringent housing loan
guidelines introduced by Bank
Negara Malaysia (BNM) in 2012
and the various cooling measures
introduced in Budget 2014 are
severely affecting developers’
sales, causing most developers in
the Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak
to pull back their launches. MDC
fears that such situation will result
in shrinkage of supply which will
eventually dampen the property
market. MDC appeals to BNM and
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the government to review the
guidelines and measures which
are clearly contrary to the efforts
to promote homeownership.
The government should instead
provide more incentives to help
first time house buyers and
MDC stands ready to assist the
government in the provision of
more affordable housing.
MDC acknowledges
and fully supports
the implementation
of GST in making the
current taxation more
comprehensive, efficient,
and transparent and
business friendly.
However, in view of the impending
GST implementation and in support
of the government’s objective of
building more affordable housing,
MDC is requesting that properties
within the affordable housing
category be accorded GST zero
rating. MDC would also like to
propose that housing priced up to
RM500,000 be considered as within
the affordable housing category.
MDC believes that the proposal will
help spur the development of more
affordable houses.
Sabah Property Launches Expected
To Soar 154% In 2015
T
he 2014 SHAREDA
Property Development
Annual Report and Market
Outlook 2015 released on
9 February can be described as the
much awaited silver lining in what
has been a gloomy 2014 for the
property industry in Sabah.
Datuk Francis Goh, president of
Sabah Housing and Real Estate
Developers Association (SHAREDA),
in announcing the release of the
second edition of the annual
property report disclosed that
property launches in 2014 dropped
by 50% with a Gross Development
Value (GDV) of RM3.74 billion
compared to RM7.56 billion in
2013. In 2014, negative figures were
shown in the landed residential,
condominium and apartment,
commercial and mixed development
sectors except for the industrial
developments sector which
increased by a whopping three folds.
The downward figures were
attributed mainly to new guidelines
introduced by Bank Negara, cooling
measures by the government
to curb property speculation
and anxiety over the impending
implementation of the GST in
April 2015. Many developers
held off their launching their new
developments as they adopted
a ‘wait and see’ attitude to gauge
current market sentiment.
Consumers’ spending power was
severely impacted by the stringent
loan assessment procedures
implemented by Bank Negara
which deterred the ability of
potential buyers to purchase
property, particularly first time
home buyers. Many applicants
failed to get approval for their
end financing and thus affected
the sales performance of each
product launch.
Goh says that 2015 will see the
realization of 5,116 units of
affordable homes by SHAREDA
members to help revitalize the
housing industry and increase the
percentage of house ownership
in Sabah. The cumulative value
of these affordable housing
projects, private developments
initiated by SHAREDA members
including leisure properties, and
development projects launched in
the east coast, Sandakan, Kudat
and interior region amounts
to RM9.5 billion, a confidenceboosting 154% increase from the
2014 figure of RM3.74 billion.
Despite the positive outlook for
2015, Goh is still concerned about
several outstanding issues that
is affecting the property industry
development in Sabah. He
brought to task the long waiting
period of up to 30 months for the
approval of development plans. He
commented that if the approval
period can be shorten to 12
months, it would result in a savings
of up to 5% on the development
cost which would translate to a
reduction in property prices. The
lowering of contribution to SESB
can potentially shave off another
3% of the development cost which
will contribute to even more
affordable housing for the public.
These issues are currently being
addressed by SHAREDA, and
collectively with the Malaysian
Developers’ Council who recently
released a joint statement
requesting the government to
seriously tackle these issues and
implement corrective measures to
support the property industry in
Malaysia.
Jalan Kolam & Jalan Tuaran Traffic
Congestion To Be Eased By 2017
T
he solution to the traffic
congestion along Jalan
Kolam (Luyang) and Mile
5.5 of Jalan Tuaran here
in Kota Kinabalu will be delivered
in 2 years time. Tan Sri Datuk Seri
Panglima Joseph Pairin Kitingan, the
Deputy Chief Minister and Minister
of Infrastructure Development
of Sabah recently officiated the
ground breaking ceremony of the
construction of the long awaited flyovers revealed that the bridges are
estimated to be ready by July 2017.
According to Pairin, a fund of
RM217,900,000 has been released
by the federal government for the
construction of the fly-overs.
Constructions of the bridges
began on 9th January this year,
and have achieved 0.3% of
construction progress.
“The construction of the two
bridges will be executed
concurrently, and will take
approximately 2 years to complete.
During this period, traffic condition
along these roads will be affected.
The authority encourages public to
use alternative roads if possible,”
said Pairin.
The relevant authorities are
expected to release alternative
route plans to minimise the
traffic congestion during the
construction period.
Glowbest Partners Digi To Bring High
Quality Internet To More Sabahans
He also revealed that DBKK will
designate more land as public
car park and encourages the use
of public transportation to enter
the city. Such movement will help
to reduce the number of vehicle
entering the city which may cause
traffic congestion.
According to Pairin, traffic
congestion is a frequently raised
topic, and he appreciates the
funds allocated by the federal
government to solve the problem.
He also said, the state government
has requested from the federal
government the development of
11 highways in total, 2 of which
have been approved whilst the
remaining 9 will be executed
pending for fund allocation.
“The federal government is concern
of the traffic congestion issues all
over Sabah. We are soliciting for
the approval of funds from the
federal to construct the remaining
9 highways, which will definitely
ease many traffic problems across
the state,” said Pairin.
On the other note, in response
to the proposal by Api Api State
Assemblyman Dr Yee Moh Chai
to build a light rail system in the
city, Pairin said that the federal
government will take that into
consideration for the betterment
of local citizens and tourists.
I
The MOU was signed by Francis Chang Yew Chang of Digi
Telecommunications (centre) and Benny Ng of Glowbest Sdn Bhd (left)
nternet connectivity is an
essential component of any
business hub and even more so
when it is located further away
from an urban centre. Glowbest
Sdn Bhd has signed an MOU with
Digi Telecommunications Sdn
Bhd to bring the convenience of
high-speed broadband to its latest
commercial venture, Orchard Plaza
in Tenom.
In his opening speech,
executive director Howard Ng
acknowledged the foresight of
the company’s founder Edward
Ng in identifying and developing
property development potential
in the interior districts of Sabah
such as Kota Marudu, Beaufort
and Tenom. As projects start to
develop, providing the necessary
infrastructure including water,
electricity and connectivity will
play a crucial role in ensuring the
sustainability and success of the
projects.
Benny Ng, a director with
Glowbest commented that
Digi offers one of the best cost
effective solutions in providing
setting up telecommunication
infrastructure for development
projects particularly those of more
modest scale.
“Working with Digi has
given us the opportunity to
get comparable service at a
much lower cost which will
benefit us and our clients in
the long run,” he says.
Francis Chang Yew Chang, head
of customer management of Digi
Telecommunications said that the
collaboration with Glowbest will
be a step towards the future in
bringing high-speed connectivity to
its customers.
“I am very pleased with the
commitment and confidence shown
by Glowbest in engaging Digi to be
the provider of this service to its
clients. I hope this will be the start
of many more collaborations in the
future,” he added.
The partnership between Digi
and Glowbest is the first to be
established in Sabah by the
telecommunications company.
From left; YB Datuk Bobbey Suan (Assistant Minister to KPI), Datuk Ir.George Wong
(Project Director of Azam Jaya Group) , YB Datuk Ghulam Khan (Assistant Minister to
KPI) , Datuk Joseph Lo (Managing Director of Azam Jaya Group), Tan Sri Pairin Kitingan
(Minister of KPI), Tun Ahmadshah (Chairman of Azam Jaya Group), Datuk Murshidi
Ghaffar (Chief Executive Officer of Azam Jaya Group) , Datuk Ir. John Anthony (Director of
JKR), Datuk Michael Imban (Setiausaha Tetap for KPI), Encik Ahmad Ag Hashim (Deputy of
Permenant Secretary For Ministry Of Infrastructure)
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