By Nigel Edgar
KUCHING, Jan 19: The Sarawak government is in the midst of resolving issues surrounding strata titles as such titles are very important to house buyers, who could use them as collateral to apply for housing loans.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Sheda) and other relevant bodies from the architectural and engineering sectors were attending a lab to discuss ways to amend state laws to resolve strata title issues.
“Once that is done, we will amend our laws in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN),” he said at Sheda’s 25th Annual Dinner and Excellence Award 2018 here yesterday.
Abang Johari told those present that the state government, together with Sheda, were committed to solve issues to ease the burden of house buyers in the state.
For instance, the state government was currently subsidising one-third of the cost for low-cost housing.
In addition, he said the state government had injected RM100 million into Mutiara Mortgage and Finance to provide loan facilities for the B40 and M40 low-income group to help them buy low-cost houses.
Other issues of concern that affect both home buyers and housing developers that have been and are in the midst of being worked out are construction and building material costs, construction methods, land and financing for lower-income home buyers.
“During my tenure as Minister of Housing, I have had a very good relationship with Sheda. We worked together, collaborated and discussed issues faced by the people on housing while at the same time we explored how to solve these problems through negotiations as well as going overseas to find the best model for us to adopt in our effort to provide quality housing to our people.
“To a certain extent, I think we have achieved certain success stories between Sheda and the state government,” said Abang Johari.
He added that with his background and experience as a former Housing Minister, coupled with knowing the issues faced by Sheda and house buyers, he hoped he would be able to find good solutions to issues that are faced by the housing and real estate industry. — DayakDaily
