KUCHING, July 6: The state government will be revising its housing and property development policies to ensure property prices would not increase uncontrollably and to prevent ‘overhang’, which could affect property prices.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said while the demand for housing and property in the state continued to increase steadily, his administration still needed to monitor the property market to ensure supply and demand matched.
“Bank Negara has now employed a more stringent policy to curb speculation (of property prices). This has adversely affected potential house buyers. We may have foreign property buyers but some areas still experience a sluggish property market.
“So the state government has to revise our property density and at the same time provide space for more units, while increasing capacity for high rise properties in the urban areas,” he said at the launching of Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Sheda) Property Expo 2018 at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here this afternoon.
As time goes by and as the population gets denser, Abang Johari warned housing developers that traffic congestion would then become a problem, but the government would help resolve it.
He said one of the initiatives by the state government was to implement its Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, which had drawn some flak from certain quarters.
“Of course there are some people who have been asking about the logic behind the LRT project. Therefore, the state government will revise this plan. We will build one route only to see the effect and to get public feedback.
“If it works and the public needs it in other areas, then we will build by stages. This is not because of the pressure from the opposition but we will implement according to demand,” said Abang Johari.
Among the areas that might get the head start for the revised LRT routes would be Kuching-Kota Samarahan and Kota Sentosa, which have been experiencing massive traffic congestion regularly. — DayakDaily
