PUTRAJAYA will introduce a bill on urban renewal to facilitate the redevelopment of cities’ old areas, said Khalid Abdul Samad.

The Federal Territories minister said at present, urban-renewal efforts are hampered by challenges mounted by private property owners.

“It is a challenge when private owners do not give their consent,” he told the Dewan Rakyat during question time today.

He said in countries like Singapore, the government does not require 100% consent from property owners to implement urban-renewal plans.

“They need 90% consent for buildings less than 10 years old, and 80% for those more than 10 years.

“Perhaps, for buildings that are 20 to 30 years old, the consent rate is even lower.

“We will propose this in the new bill for urban renewal.”

Khalid was replying to Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang-PH), who asked if the ministry plans to introduce a new law for urban renewal to make redevelopment easier, as what has been done in nations like Hong Kong and Singapore. – April 8, 2019.