Property Hunter Magazine Property Hunter Magazine Issue 50 - January 2014 | Page 45

Assemblyman Proposes RM2 Million Minimum Price for Foreign House Buyers in Johor Developer Country Garden Makes Klang Valley Debut Eager buyers at the launch Dusk of Johor Bahru overlooking Singapore An assemblyman has proposed that the minimum price for foreign house buyers in Johor be increased to RM2 million to protect local house buyers. It was previously reported that the state was in the process of reviewing the current price for foreign buyers from RM500,000 to RM1 million. Ayub Jamil (BN–Rengit) said it did not make any sense as the prices of houses here had reached the million ringgit mark. “Do we not have enough land? Is our state so desperate for land to build houses like Singapore and Hong Kong resulting in these high prices?” he questioned during the Johor State Assembly sitting here yesterday. Ayub said the price of double-storey terrace houses and single-storey semi-detached houses had reached RM1 million in many places here. He said the state government should consult the Construction Development Industry Board (CIDB) to assess the actual costs of building houses and this should be the baseline for the minimum price. Meanwhile, State Housing and Local Government exco Datuk Abdul Latif Bandi said the state targeted to build at least 28,000 affordable homes between 2013 and 2018. “The homes will be built by government-link companies and private developers as we have a total of 34,987 applications for this type of homes,” he added. He said the state had formed a task force at the state and district level to deal with issues related to the building of affordable housing, lowcost homes and squatter houses. Replying to a question, State Public Works, Rural and Regional Development exco Datuk Hasni Mohamed said the state government was not dependent on treated water from Singapore and has the capacity to supply the needed daily usage from the existing 44 water treatment plants here. He said Johor folk used up an average of about 330 million gallons of water a day in 2013 and the treatment plants could generate 436 million gallons daily. He said the state was also in the midst of reviewing the charges for raw water sold to Singapore under the Malaysia-Singapore Agreement 1961, as the state currently sells raw water three cents for every 1,000 gallons to Singapore and buy back treated water at 50 cents for every 1,000 gallons. Country Garden has launched its newest project Country Garden Diamond City, a fivestar living concept covering about 100ha. This will be the first major project