DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua today hit out at Putrajaya for allowing Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to openly defy its high-end property development freeze.

“(It) shows how ill-thought out and impractical the ban is,” said Pua in a statement.

“DBKL’s defiance of a Cabinet directive demonstrates how toothless Putrajaya is.”

DBKL mayor Amin Nordin reportedly told Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng city hall would not implement the property development freeze for residential units priced above RM1 million, offices and malls on November 1 as directed by the Cabinet.

“If DBKL can do it, then there’s no reason why all other local councils should comply with the directive,” said the PJ Utara MP.

He said this shows a clear need to overhaul the civil service to ensure cabinet decisions are carried out.

Pua also slammed Putrajaya for its inconsistencies in implementing the luxury property development freeze ban.

While Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani originally said it would be a blanket ban, Works Minister Fadillah Yusof later contradicted Johari, saying the freeze would be implemented on a case-by-case basis.

Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Noh Omar later added it would not affect pre-approved luxury development projects.

These include the Tun Razak Exchange and Bandar Malaysia, according to Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, as these development projects were pre-approved.

Pua said the cabinet made a U-turn last week when it said developers could appeal the ban to a ministerial committee comprising the second finance minister, the works minister, urban wellbeing and local government minister, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

The ban was instituted in response to a Bank Negara Malaysia report on Malaysia’s high-end real estate glut, which revealed the number of affordable homes was much lower than market demand.

The central bank said the number of unsold residential properties, at 130,690 units, was the highest in a decade.

KL has the third-largest share of unsold residential units at 14% behind Selangor (21%) and Johor (27%).

Pua said the BNM report also found office vacancy rates had increased from 20.9% in Q1 2015 to 23.6% in Q1 2017.

He said without the ban, the situation will get worse with an incoming supply of additional 38 million square feet of office space. – December 13, 2017.