SPNB's move over abandoned projects gets mixed response

Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd (SPNB), a government agency established to rehabilitate abandoned housing developments, will no longer revive such projects due to a change in the policy.

Under the new policy, abandoned residential projects will be entirely managed by the Housing and Local Government Ministry via the Commissioner of Buildings, said Datuk Dr Kamarul Rashdan Salleh, Managing Director at SPNB.

"I understand that the ministry will work with private developers to revive abandoned houses," he said.

However, Kamarul is concerned over the rising costs to restore housing projects from private developers, including low or medium-low-cost houses, due to the requirement to keep the original house price.

For medium-cost housing, attracting private developers is not a problem, as competitive prices can be set and substantial profit can be made, he noted.

"Efforts to revive low-cost and medium-low-cost houses do not guarantee lucrative profits. Furthermore, developers will have to put up with spiralling costs."

"If the developers are willing to the risks, I welcome their initiative to do so, but if it is too risky for some developers, then the government has to come up with a workable mechanism to develop abandoned housing projects," he added.

SPNB will begin reviving Taman Jasa Amir and Taman Tangkak Emas abandoned projects in Johor by next month, as these projects have been idle since 2005.

Source