THE consultant for the phase one of the urban regeneration programme at ‘5 Point Blocks’ flats in Lorong Mahsuri 10, Bayan Baru has been appointed.
This was announced by state Housing, Local Government, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo during a press conference held today at the Taman Free School Flats.
“The physical work of the project is set to take place in the next few months as we have completed all the paperwork concerning it.
“The phase one of the project involves building a total of 1,105 units of affordable homes in one block which used to only have some 200 units.
“With this we can house more people, and this is the point of the regeneration programme as we are looking forward to a better Penang.
“The size of the original units is between 300 and 400sq feet, but now through this programme we would be providing bigger units ranging from 700 to 800sq feet,” Jagdeep said, adding that the tender document for the project would be completed in April.
Jagdeep added that the other old housing schemes identified for the urban regeneration programme are the Rifle Range Flats, Taman Free School Flats, Mak Mandin Flats and Taman Siakap Flats.
He said all the five projects would involve a total of 10,065 units.
Apart from that, Jagdeep shared that as of yesterday, a total of 131,391 units of various types of affordable homes have been built, being built and will be built.
“This is the achievement of the state government.
“The prices of the various types of affordable homes range from RM42,000 to RM300,000 on the island and from RM42,000 to RM250,00 on the mainland.
“However, there are also people who cannot afford the low-cost units at RM42,000 as they are unable to obtain the housing loan. And this is a big challenge for us.
“Thus, I hope the Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican will look into this matter and rectify the situation.
“The state government will also keep focusing on the rent-to-own schemes to ensure that our people can own a house,” he added.
Also present during the press conference was Jelutong MP RSN Rayer.
After the press conference, Jagdeep and Rayer distributed the Chinese New Year (CNY) goodies to the residents at the Taman Free School Flats.
Jagdeep, as the Datuk Keramat assemblyman, contributed a total of 500 boxes of cookies, 300 food baskets, and 300 goodie bags containing Covid-19 test kits, oranges, and face masks.
He also wished everyone a prosperous Chinese New Year and hoped everyone will adhere to the standard operation procedures (SOPs) while celebrating the festival.
It is learned that Rayer has sponsored a total of 200 boxes of mandarin oranges for the distribution in conjunction with CNY festival which will be celebrated tomorrow.
Story by Tanushalini Moroter
Pix by Chan Kok Kuan