Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should ensure that Federal agencies like Lembaga Kemajuan Wilayah Pulau Pinang(PERDA) and JKP Sdn Bhd take the lead and not profit from building low-cost or affordable housing projects when both PERDA and JKP expect to profit RM 150 million from 15 projects In Penang. Whilst opening the Wisma REHDA (Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia) yesterday, Najib urged all states to ensure that low-cost housing was available to those who needed it and to not see it as a profitable business venture
The Penang state government agrees with Najib that it is wrong, irresponsible and against public interest for government agencies to profit from building such homes. Unfortunately federal agencies such as PERDA and JKP Sdn Bhd intend to profit hugely, with an estimated profit of RM 32 million by JKP Sdn Bhd from 8 projects and RM117 million by PERDA from 7 projects throughout Penang (see table).
How can federal agencies like PERDA be helping the poor or even bumis by building luxury homes selling at a price of RM 1.85 million in Teluk Kumbar, Daerah Barat-Daya? This shocking fact was revealed in a letter to me dated 30 September 2014 by Penang UMNO Chair and Penang Federal Action Council Chairman, Dato Zainal Abidin Osman:-
| Keluasan (Ekar) | Komponen Pembangunan Projek | Unjuran Keuntungan (RM) | |||
| Kos Rendah | Kos Sederhana | Komersial | |||
| PERDA | 514.18 | 1656 | 4246 | 401 | 116,950, 877.00 |
| JKP | 91.6 | 791 | 2300 | 50 | 32,038,291.24 |
| Jumlah | 605.78 | 2447 | 6546 | 451 | 148,989, 168.24 |
Unlike both JKP and Perda, the Penang state government will be losing RM 500-800 million from building public and affordable housing. The Penang state government follows the Federal government’s guidelines to price public housing at below RM 72,500, whilst affordable housing are between RM 72,500 to RM 400,000 on Penang island and between RM 72,500 to RM 250,000 on the mainland of Seberang Perai. No homes built by the Penang state government, are sold at more than RM 400,000, much less the RM 1.85 million homes sold by PERDA.
Najib should advise both JKP and PERDA to focus on building low-cost and low-medium cost housing as well as to stick to the guidelines of not selling houses exceeding RM 400,000 and not make such a huge profit of RM 150 million from the 15 housing projects. Failure to do so would either expose Najib as being insincere and that the Federal government is hypocritical by not practicing what they preach when they are willing to profit from such so-called public and affordable housing projects.