THE Local Government Development Ministry is planning to build a new People’s Housing Project (PPR or Program Perumahan Rakyat) in Penang.
This was revealed by the ministry’s deputy secretary-general (Housing and Community Welfare) Datuk Azhar Ahmad when he led a delegation to meet officials from the Penang Housing Board at Hotel Neo+ in George Town today.
Asked by a reporter about the ministry’s target for Penang, Azhar briefly said that a PPR would be built in Penang.
“Discussion is still at a preliminary stage. The details will be worked out,” said Azhar, whose visit came on the heels of Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming’s visit to Penang about a week ago.
State Local Government, Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh thanked Azhar for coming to Penang to know more about the housing initiatives that the state has been implementing for the people.
Penang, Jagdeep said, has identified five sites – two on the island and three on the mainland for PPR projects.
Azhar sharing his views with Jagdeep on The Millennia project that the Penang Housing Board is undertaking. With them are Yew (left) and Amir (second from left).
He said after the meeting Azhar and his delegation would be taken to visit a few sites by the Penang Housing Board team, led by its general manager Ainul Fadhilah Samsudi.
According to Jagdeep, the PHB has set a target for the state to have 220,000 affordable homes by 2030. It currently has reached 65% of its target at 142,672 units (already built, being built or being planned to be built).
At the meeting, Ainul also briefed Azhar and the visitors on The Millennia, the first affordable housing project being undertaken by Penang Housing Board, which would be built on 8.7 acres in Bukit Gedung.
The Millennia will have a total of 1,197 units, consisting of 282 low medium-cost units (measuring 700sq ft each) and 915 units of affordable housing (measuring 881sq ft) and 59 commercial units.
The construction is expected to start in the third quarter of 2023 and will be completed in five years in 2028.
Ainul said she would be taking Azhar and his team to visit the proposed land for PPR at Kota Giam in Jelutong; PHB’s first Urban Redevelopment City (URC) project in Mahsuri, Bayan Baru; and their second URC project in Mak Mandin.
“They (KPKT) are coming down here as a follow-up to the few engagements we had with them recently.
“We are also requesting the Federal Government to come out with a new Act on urban redevelopment for housing,” Ainul added.
Also present at the meeting were Penang Island City Council mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang, Amir Onn Mustapha (Under Secretary, Housing Planning Division in the Ministry of Housing and Local Government) and Penang State Secretariat Office Under Secretary Nur Aishah Md Norodin.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Alissala Thian