By William Isau
SIBU, June 12: The availability of affordable housing loan financing from Housing Development Corporation (HDC) has enabled the residents of Rumah Kawau to build a new longhouse.
Nangka assemblyman Dr Annuar Rapaee said today that the 26-door Rumah Kawau is the first in his constituency to benefit from the programme, involving a total of RM780,000 in loans.
“Each family or ‘pintu’ (household of a longhouse) in Rh Kawau is given a loan of RM30,000 respectively with no interest. This is the initiative by the Sarawak government through HDC,” he said.
He said the 26 families need to pay only RM100 per month for 20 years for the loan, which is very affordable for them.
“I have also promised that for the ‘ruai’ we will use Rural Transformation Programme (RTP) funds to add on to the allocation,” he said.
Dr Annuar expressed his gratitude to the State government for the assistance and support given to the residents of Rh Kawau.
Meanwhile, Tuai Rumah Kawau extended his appreciation to the State government for the initiative.
“At first it was quite hard for me to apply for this loan. However, with Dr Annuar’s help, our application has been approved.
Kawau said without the government programme, it would have been impossible for them to build the longhouse as the cost of construction was too high.
“Settling the loan of RM100 a month for me is quite cheap. Furthermore, it is without interest. So we just borrowed RM30,000 (per household) and paid the same amount,” he said. — DayakDaily
