ALMOST 18 1Malaysia People’s Housing Programme (PR1MA) projects across the nation are facing issues, delaying their completion, Deputy Local Government Development Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir told the Dewan Rakyat today. 

Akmal said the ministry has formed a task force to look into the abandoned and “sick” PR1MA projects.  

“Based on the information I have, there are almost 18 projects we know have some sort of problems or are ‘sick’.  

“Our task force is targeting to complete 10 of these projects within a year,” the Johor Baru MP said during the minister’s question and answer time.  

Akmal was responding to a question from Shaharizukirnain Abd Kadir (Setiu-PN), who asked how many PR1MA housing projects are abandoned across the country.

Akmal, however, said the progress depended the availability of manpower and local government approval.

He said that the task force will also monitor private projects that have been delayed or abandoned.

Meanwhile, the government is launching a financing scheme to help first-time home buyers, especially those in the B40 group.

“One of the programmes under i-Biaya is the housing credit guarantee scheme, which is financing for housing without a deposit. This is for people who do not have a fixed income or are in the gig economy.

“In the recently tabled Budget 2023, the government also plans to continue this initiative through a guarantee of up to RM5 billion in loan value that will benefit some 20,000 needy borrowers. In comparison, the previous budget only allocated around RM2 billion to the scheme,” he said.  

He said the rent-to-own (RTO) scheme for the People’s Housing Programme (PPR) initiated by the government in 2017 will continue to help B40 income earners who do not qualify for a loan to own a home.  

“The RTO scheme is implemented in 14 PPRs across the country involving 6,066 housing units. 

“As of December 31, 2022, a total of 4,690 families have been offered the RTO PPR scheme nationwide and there are still 1,376 housing units available.

“The Local Government Development Ministry is also looking into diversifying housing financing schemes to help target groups, especially the B40, to own a home,” he said.

He was responding to Shaharizukirnain’s initial question, who wanted to know if the government plans to introduce housing subsidies and expand the RTO scheme to all first-time home buyers. – March 8, 2023.