PR1MA confident of rolling out 80,000 units by year-end

KUALA LUMPUR: PR1MA Corp Malaysia (PR1MA) is confident of rolling out affordable housing schemes involving a total of 80,000 units by the end of this year, said its CEO Datuk Abdul Mutalib Alias.

He told the The Edge Financial Daily that the target would be achieved although there are only a few more months left before 2013 comes to a close.

Last month, PR1MA announced that 15 projects, involving 20,000 units, would be rolled out with a total gross development value (GDV) of RM5 billion. The projects are located in the Klang Valley, Johor, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak. Work has already started on three of the projects.

Mutalib said the corporation is on course to secure the approval of all its committee members for another 60,000 PR1MA home projects to be rolled out by year-end. The 80,000 units are part of the 500,000 affordable homes to be developed by PR1MA by 2018.

According to Mutalib, the 80,000 PR1MA homes would be ready for vacant possession by 2015 to 2016.

PR1MA is chaired by Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Mohd Jarjis. Besides Mutalib, the other committee members are chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa; secretary-general of the Finance Ministry Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah; Datuk Azlin Alias of the Prime Minister’s Department; Sime Darby group chief operating officer Datuk Abdul Wahab Maskan; Celcom Axiata Bhd CEO Datuk Seri Mohammed Shazalli Ramly; and former MayBank IB CEO  Tengku Datuk Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.

Mutalib: Demand for affordable homes higher than what is available in the market.

Malaysians aged 21 and above, and with a household income of between RM2,500 and RM7,500 per month, are eligible to apply to purchase the houses developed by PR1MA. The units are allocated through an open balloting process, and successful applicants have a 10-year moratorium, during which time the property cannot be sold or transferred to another party without prior approval from PR1MA.

Mutalib pointed out that buyers should not sell their properties after purchasing them under the PR1MA programme as the houses were subsidised by the government.

Commenting on the possibility of increasing the eligibility income bracket for PR1MA buyers, Mutalib said any changes will be subject to the government’s policy.

Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, had said in June that there were plans to push the eligibility income bracket to go as high as RM10,000 per month to enable more middle-income earners to own property in urban and semi-urban areas.

On competition from private property developers, Mutalib said PR1MA welcomes competition as it wants other developers to deliver more affordable homes to middle-income earners.

“Currently the demand for affordable homes is higher than what is available in the market,” he said.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on September 25, 2013.