SEVENTY-NINE private housing projects were abandoned, affecting 11,824 buyers, on the peninsula as of September 30, Housing and Local Government Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican told the Dewan Rakyat today.

The Kepala Batas MP said the projects combined had 17,724 housing units.

Selangor had the most abandoned projects at 33 with 10,974 units, while Putrajaya, Penang and Perlis had none.

Sixty-five of the developments were abandoned due to the developers’ poor finances while four did not meet regulation.

Other factors attributing to the projects being abandoned were poor project management (2 projects), developer could not be traced (2), public objection (1), slums hindering development (1), contractors’ inefficiency (2) and unviability (2).

“Between 2009 and September 2021, KPKT (Housing and Local Government) has resolved problems surrounding 215 abandoned private housing projects which comprised 59,090 units and involved  39,247 buyers,” he said during question time in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Reezal was responding to a question from Ahmad Jazlan  Yaakub (Machang-BN) on the number of abandoned housing projects in each state as of 2021, why they were abandoned, and what were the solutions.

He said the 79 abandoned projects had an estimated gross development value of close to RM5.57 billion, adding that the value could be lower due to depreciation.

The government uses mediation and intervention as mechanisms to resolve problems related to abandoned projects, he added.

These mechanisms are being applied to resolve problems with 38 projects involving 11,515 units and 6,319 buyers.

Another 15 projects involving 2,830 units and 2,699 buyers are being restored.

Another 26 projects with 3,383 units and 2806 buyers are stalled, he added.

Reezal said only four developers currently had the financial capability to build and sell projects.

He said this in response to a supplementary question by Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang-PH) on whether the government intends to introduce a build-first-and-sell-later policy to ensure that buyers will get their units. – October 7, 2021.