Zeti: Market needs more affordable housing

 

SHAH ALAM (May 11): The market is never short of commercial and luxury properties and it needs more affordable housing to balance the oversupply situation, said Sime Darby Property Bhd chairman Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
 
Zeti is also the Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) group chairman and former Bank Negara Governor.
 
“Developers should offer more affordable housing as the demand for this segment remained strong and continues to rise and the potential of this housing segment is yet to be realised,” she told the audience during the launch of National Affordable Housing Policy which was unveiled in the City of Elmina today.
 
She said for instance, the affordable housing project – Elsa, developed by Sime Darby Property,  had sold out during the first day of the launch, and this demonstrated that the affordable housing demand is still high and will be the future direction for housing development.
 
Zeti noted that the usage of technology is essential for affordable housing development as it could help to bring down construction costs.
 
Meanwhile, Deputy Works Minister Mohd Anuar Mohd Tahir said the Harmony Elmina 1 project at the City of Elmina township is a result of a three-year collaboration with the Construction Research Institute of Malaysia (CREAM), a unit under Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).
 
The collaboration is expected to commercialise the Divergent Dwelling design (D3) concept through the usage of the Industrialisation Building System that will reduce the construction period, improve quality and bring down construction costs.
 
“CIDB has been researching and improvising the D3 concept, this model should be used in the future affordable housing development,” he noted.