Sarawak mulls policy for middle-income group to buy houses

MIRI (March 13): Sarawak will fine-tune its own financial model to enable the middle-income group to buy their own house in the state.

Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Abang Openg said under the new financial model, those under the middle-income bracket will purchase housing projects financed by the state government.

“We want to introduce the financial model because previously when new housing projects were announced, the financial allocation would be from the federal government,” he said when launching the 1Malaysia Civil Servant Housing (PPA1M) Melia Residences at Parkcity Eastwood here on Saturday.

PPA1M Melia Residences at Parkcity Eastwood will have a total of 1,075 double-storey houses with a starting price of RM300,000, 30% cheaper than the normal market price, built by well-known property developer Pantai Bayu Sdn Bhd, a member of Samling Group.

Abang Johari, who is also state housing minister, said due to bureaucratic and financial problems at the federal level, some of the housing projects that had been announced had either been delayed or even cancelled.

He said the situation had caused many first-time house owners to be fuming as their dream of owning a house had been dashed by circumstances beyond the state government’s control.

Presently, Abang Johari said, Sarawak had its own affordable housing programme called “Skim Perumahan Rakyat Khas” (Spektra) or Special Public Housing Scheme that was designed based on the geographical location of the housing project.

For the record, the Spektra Lite programme is designed for those in the RM4,000 and below income bracket, while Spektra Medium is for those earning RM5,000 and below.

The prices of Spektra Lite and Medium categories have been set at between RM100,000 and RM168,000 for terrace houses and RM120,000 for flats.

Also present at the function were Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa and Samling Group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Yaw Chee Ming.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 13, 2017.

For more stories, download TheEdgeproperty.com pullout here for free.