Regulatory body may be set up to supervise affordable housing
26 July 2017 Print page
The body is important to solve the mismatch between demand and supply of affordable housing in the country.
KUALA LUMPUR: The government is mulling the setting up of a regulatory body to supervise the housing industry, especially the affordable housing segment.
Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani said the body was important to solve the mismatch between demand and supply of affordable housing in the country.
“The definition of affordable house prices is different between one property developer and another.
“This is something the government is looking into in the near term.
“Some of the houses being built are not in the right locations where people need them the most and you have an issue of mismatch,” he said at Invest Malaysia Kuala Lumpur 2017 here today.
Johari, who was one of the panellists during a plenary session to discuss Malaysia’s fundamentals, also said the regulatory body may be necessary as there were too many complications involved in the development of affordable housing and there was also a need to re-look the pricing of the affordable housing segment.
“We need a regulatory body to manage this so that we don’t build affordable housing and then people don’t buy.”
He said a meeting would be held with the urban wellbeing, housing and local government ministry to develop a comprehensive regulatory body to address the issue of affordable houses.
Speaking on another issue to reporters later, Johari said, eight companies had registered their interest to be the master developer of the US$1.7 billion Bandar Malaysia project.
“I was informed by the Treasury secretary-general that the board of 1Malaysia Development Bhd will sit down and go through the companies individually by end-July or early next month,” he said.
TRX City Sdn Bhd, wholly-owned by the finance ministry, had aborted the sale of a 60% stake in Bandar Malaysia in May to IWH CREC Sdn Bhd on grounds that the latter had not met its payment obligations despite being given 12 extensions.
Source : http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/07/25/regulatory-body-may-be-set-up-to-supervise-affordable-housing/