Welcoming address by YB Tuan Jagdeep Singh Deo, Penang State EXCO for Housing and Town & Country Planning at the Penang International Property Summit 2015 on 9th January 2015 in Spice (PISA), Penang: It is my pleasure and great honour to have organized this inaugural 2015 Penang International Property Summit. This Property Summit contrasts starkly with the many other property exhibitions that have been held in Penang because it is not merely an exhibition of properties for sale, but it is also a forum whereby all the housing industry stakeholders from the developers right up to the consumers have been invited to participate in a conference which will feature panel discussions on issues impacting the housing industry by all of them and which will be a platform whereby they are given an opportunity to impart their constructive suggestions and inputs, not only to the State but also, amongst the various participating stakeholders, as to how to enhance the housing industry in Penang, with the provision of affordable housing to Penangites at the forefront. As you are aware, the Penang State Government aspires to be an International and Intelligent City. This being the case, coupled with the fact that we are the most attractive state in Malaysia to invest in, it has been a challenge to ensure prices of properties in Penang remain affordable. The State Government, having in mind, its utmost top priority of making affordable housing accessible to Penangites, will not shirk its responsibility in taking on this challenge. Towards this end, we have introduced stringent cooling measures such as the extension of the moratorium on the subsequent sale of low and low medium cost housing units to 10 years from the principal purchase; the moratorium on the subsequent sale of affordable housing units to 5 years from the principal purchase; the imposition of a 3% approval fee in relation to purchases by foreigners further to the requirement that there is a limit on purchases by foreigners, namely properties not less than RM2 million (landed) and RM1 million (apartment) on the island, and RM1 million (landed and apartment) on the mainland; and the imposition of a 2% approval fee upon vendors for transactions executed within 3 years of purchase. It is important to note that these units have a price control and size control namely,capped at RM400,000.00 on the island and RM250,000.00 on the mainland for units ranging between 750 square feet to 900 square feet. It should be noted that the other source of affordable housing units would clearly be the Federal Government. This goes without saying, as we are paying taxes to them. In fact, despite being the second smallest state in the country, we are the third-highest tax payers in the country. This being the case we rightfully deserve to be provided affordable housing by the Federal Government as this proves to be a fundamental human right, namely having a roof over ones head. In this regard, the Federal Government has made many promises through Perumahan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (PR1MA), that affordable housing will be coming to Penang. This, inter alia, includes announcements by the CEO of PR1MA, Dato Mutalib Alias in December 2012 that the Federal Government would be building affordable housing projects under PR1MA in Penang and that several plots of Federal land in Bukit Gelugor had been identified for that purpose and a further 7 more other locations on the island and the mainland had also been identified. This was followed by the announcement of the Prime Minister, Dato Seri Najib Razak himself, in April 2013 that 9,999 affordable housing units would be built in the Air Itam area. Further, in August 2013, it was announced by PR1MA that 20,519 affordable housing units would be built in the Greater Klang Valley area, Johor, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak. In January last year, the Penang Federal Action Council chairman Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman also stated that locations of PR1MA projects had been identified but some issues needed to be dealt with before approval would be sought from state authorities. In fact, I had also met with Tan Sri Dato Seri Dr Ir Jamaluddin Jarjis, the Chairman of Perbadanan PR1MA in February last year in Penang whereby, he has also committed that the Federal Government would proceed with PR1MA projects in Penang. Having regard to all those statements, I have written on numerous occasions, namely on 31 October 2013, 10 December 2013, 27 December 2013, 14 February 2014 and 11 July 2014 to the PR1MA CEO, PR1MA Chairman, Tan Sri Dr Ir Jamaluddin Jarjis, the Minister for Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government, Dato Rahman Dahlan and even the Prime Minister himself. In fact, even the Chief Minister himself wrote to the Deputy Prime Minister on 24 October 2014 requesting to be notified of the following, namely: I.Whether PR1MA affordable housing will be delivered by the Federal Government to Penang; II.The proposed locations for such PR1MA affordable housing projects, and the number of units thereat; and III.The timeline for the delivery of the same. It should be noted, that finally, after 2 years since the promises were made and the series of correspondences, the Minister in the Prime Ministers Department, Dato Seri Shahidan Kassim, responded on 25 November 2014. However, the response clearly is just a repetition of their alleged plans to deliver such affordable housing in Penang, but fails completely to advert to concrete measures that will be taken for its execution, including the submission of plans specifying details of the projects and most importantly, the time-line of the execution of the delivery of such affordable housing to Penang. This is wholly unlike the third source of affordable housing in Penang, which is the private sector. As you are aware, the national policy requiring developers to provide 30% low cost and low medium cost units in any of their particular developments is also practised in Penang. In this regard, we have seen 12,471 low cost and 7,608 low medium cost units being built since 2008 todate, in all 5 districts of Penang. Further and beyond that, in meeting the challenge of keeping house prices affordable in Penang as I have mentioned above, we have introduced guidelines of building 100% affordable housing units by private developers some 2 months ago. Unlike the Federal Government which has merely repeated their alleged plans to deliver PR1MA affordable housing to Penang, the private sector has assisted the State Government in tackling the challenge of keeping house prices in Penang affordable by coming forward and submitting plans for the construction of such affordable housing pursuant to the new guideline passed by the Penang State Government. For your information, as of today we have received plans for the construction of 9,858 units of 100% affordable housing by 8 developers at various locations in Penang, such as, Tanjong Bungah, Teluk Kumbar, Bayan Baru, Gat Lebuh Macallum and Paya Terubong. This is why this Summit which comprises the conference component, is very important, as we would like to engage with all the stakeholders, including private developers and we are always open to listening to any constructive inputs that they may have. The Penang State Government in meeting this challenge of ensuring Penangites have access to affordable housing, will also continue to engage the Federal Government that has failed in many major aspects to ensure that such affordable housing reach the targeted group. At the meeting of the National Council on Local Government held in Putrajaya in October, 2014, when I represented the Penang State Government, I had suggested that more efforts should be made to ensure that this category of low cost, low medium cost and affordable housing applicants be given preferential treatment, including repeating our call that the developer interest bearing scheme (DIBS) be reintroduced for those first time home buyers of affordable housing, as it is clear that there is a very high loan rejection rate by the private banking sector for this category. Apart from this, we will also continue to call upon the Federal Government to introduce more attractive loan packages for this category of low cost, low medium cost and affordable housing loan applicants so as to realise their dream of having a roof over their head. It is important for the issue of such high loan application rejection rates to be addressed and overcome, as otherwise it will make the Penang State Government and the private sectors efforts of building low cost, low medium cost and affordable housing schemes, all but futile as the targeted group will be prevented from getting the keys to these units that are to be built which they so rightfully deserve. Finally, with GST looming in the horizon this year, some analysts have said that in the run-up to its implementation in April, the property market will see an upward trend in transactions by purchasers who want to avoid the effects of GST on their purchases. Whilst the Penang State Government has been steadfast in opposing the implementation of GST, I wish to call upon Penangites to take advantage of our affordable housing policy, whereby we have committed to a price ceiling of RM400,000.00 for such affordable housing units on the island and RM250,000.00 on the mainland, not only for projects undertaken by the Penang State Government, as I have mentioned before, but also by the private sector. Therefore, please do not delay in registering with the Penang State Housing Department for these affordable housing units. We have prepared a booth in the exhibition component during these 3 days for that purpose. With those words, I wish to thank all participants that have realised this event, namely, the event manager PenEvents Sdn Bhd, The Edge Media Group, Penang Development Corporation (PDC), Invest Penang, Penang Institute, both the MPPP and MPSP, REHDA Penang, Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (REDAS), Malaysia Property Incorporated, FIABCI, National House Buyers Association, Green Building Confederation, Malaysia Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) Penang and other private developers.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 02:47:04 +0000
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