THE Housing and Local Government Ministry plans to build a housing project for the B40 group at the site of the Highland Towers condominium which collapsed 25 years ago, said its minister, Zuraida Kamaruddin.

She said the proposed plan could be implemented only after the affected land had been acquired and legal issues with buyers of the condominium units had been resolved.

“The first meeting of the committee on redevelopment of Highland Towers will be held at the ministry tomorrow and will be chaired by chief secretary Mohammad Mantek,” she told a weekly media conference at her office in Putrajaya today.

Besides the Housing and Local Government Ministry and its agencies, she said the committee would also have representatives from the Finance Ministry, Selangor government, Economic Affairs Ministry, Works Ministry, Environment and Natural Resources Ministry, Mineral and Geoscience Department, Drainage and Irrigation Department, and the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council.

According to Zuraida, the site of the Highland Towers condominium is prime land in Kuala Lumpur and should be fully utilised, not left idle.

On Dec 11, 1993, one of three blocks of the Highland Towers condominium at Taman Hillview, Ulu Klang, collapsed, killing 48 people.

When asked about the risk of developing a housing project at the Highland Towers site as it was a hill slope, Zuraida said developments would be carried out according to the required specification.

Meanwhile, she said the ministry would review the existing policy on the duration required for the government to take over abandoned housing projects in the country.

“If the time period stated in the existing policy is too long, there may be a need to shorten it,” she said, adding that there were currently 257 abandoned projects, with the highest number in Selangor, and most of them by the private sector. – Bernama, June 26, 2018.