/// West Malaysia Property News
MRT Project to Boost Kajang Property
Prices
Copy Penang’s Low-Cost Home Ownership
Scheme, Guan Eng Tells Putrajaya
increasing
their
chances to
qualify for
loans to
cover the
remaining
70 per
cent.
The upcoming Sungai BulohKajang Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)
line is expected to boost property
prices in Kajang, according to
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk
Ahmad Maslan..
The last station of the MRT line,
Kajang’s business activity is also
expected to be enhanced by the
availability of better rail, bus and
taxi connectivity, he said during a
working visit to the MRT project in
Jalan Reko, Kajang.
to travel conveniently and safely
to destinations in the Klang Valley
minus the hassle of traffic jams.
Set to be completed in July 2017,
the high-capacity MRT project
was announced by Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during
the tabling of 2011 Budget on 25
October 2010.
“The MRT is also expected to raise
public transport ridership to at
least 40 percent,” added Ahmad.
Malaysia’s most modern transport
mode will allow Kajang residents
Errant Housing Developers Face Stiffer
Penalties, Blacklist, From June 2014
She added that errant
developers would also
face stiffer penalties if
they were hauled to court
and convicted.
The ceiling for fines
will also be increased
to RM500,000 from
RM200,000 previously.
Housing developers who abandon
their projects will be blacklisted
and subjected to stiffer penalties
when amendments to the
Housing Development (Control
and Licensing) Act 1966 come into
force in June.
“Once blacklisted, the developer
and company’s board of directors
will not be able to apply or renew
their advertising permit and sales
license,” Deputy Urban Well-being,
Housing and Local Government
Minister Datuk Halimah Mohd
Sadique said when answering a
question raised by Gobind Singh
Deo (DAP-Puchong) in Parliament.
56
www.PropertyHunter.com.my
Halimah said the
names of blacklisted developers
would also be published on the
Ministry’s website.
Earlier, Halimah informed
lawmakers that from 2009 to
Feb 28 this year, the Ministry had
declared 206 housing projects as
abandoned.
Of this, she added, a total 149
projects were revived, with 22,868
homes built.
Halimah also said the Act only
applied in the Peninsula, but she
would propose to the Cabinet
for the law to be enforceable
nationwide.
Putrajaya should
adopt the Penang’s
Shared Ownership
Scheme (SOS) and
provide interest-free
loans to help lower
income groups afford
low cost homes,
Penang Chief Minister
Lim Guan Eng said.
He said inflationary
pressure has made
it virtually impossible
for Malaysians who
earn RM3,000 or less
to afford buying their
own homes, especially
with the sluggish
growth in wages.
“With such high
rates of outstanding
borrowings that is 7
times their annual
incomes, it is difficult
if not impossible for
lower-income groups
to get approvals of
housing loans from
banks or financial
institutions,” he said in
a statement.
“For this reason
the Penang state
government has
introduced the Shared
Ownership Scheme
(SOS) for low-cost
houses to help lowerincome groups,” Lim
added.
The DAP secretarygeneral explained that
under Penang’s SOS,
the state government
hands out loans of
up to 30 per cent of
the property price
and interest to those
who qualify, greatly
Lim noted
that
those in
the lower income
bracket are already
under pressure to
keep up with the
rising cost of living,
having borrowed
RM230.2 billion worth
in household debt
or 27 per cent of
the RM854.3 billion
in total household
borrowings last year.
“Bank Negara should
realise that the reason
for is that our income
levels are stuck in
a ‘glacial trap’ with
inflation outpacing
wage rises.
“This has forced many
households to rely on
credit loans to make
ends meet and even
resort to loan sharks
when they are unable
to get loans from
financial institutions,”
he said.
He slammed the
central bank as being
“short-sighted and
uncaring at best” for
allowing household
debt levels to hit an
all-time high of 86.6
per cent of Malaysia’s
gross domestic
product (GDP) and for
dismissing it as not
having any effect on
the nation’s financial
stability.
The increase in
household debt is a
strong enough reason
for Bank Negara to
reinstate the recently
outlawed Developer
Interest Bearing
Scheme (DIBS) to
enable individuals to
own their first home.
“There have been
many complaint