KUALA LUMPUR: PR1MA Corp, the country’s largest affordable housing developer, has been awarded eight prime locations along the light rail transit (LRT) lines in the Klang Valley for future projects.
These transit-oriented development (TOD) projects — a mixed-use residential and commercial area designed to maximise access to public transport — would debunk criticism by some quarters that PR1MA only builds houses in less desirable locations.
“A few weeks ago, I was told that the government allocated eight sites near LRT stations for us to develop. For the young people, a TOD project is ideal,” said PR1MA chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Abdul Mutalib Alias in an interview.
The Ampang, Kelana Jaya and Sri Petaling LRT lines have a total of 72 stations, of which 20 will be TOD projects.
“We were given eight sites, Prasarana Malaysia Bhd got 10 and Perumahan Penjawat Awam 1Malaysia was awarded two,” he said.
The sites are located along Pandan Indah, Pandan Jaya, Cempaka, Jelatek, Titiwangsa, Sentul, Bandar Puteri and Kinrara.
The total land size is estimated at 12.9ha and should be able to accommodate about 2,500 housing units, said Mutalib.
He said one of the benefits of a TOD project is parking, where one parking lot per residence is sufficient.
“We have been telling the authorities that if you live near the train station, only one car is needed,” said Mutalib, who worked in the investment banking sector for 15 years before joining the government.
He said as part of the request for proposal for the TOD projects, local architects are required to team up with counterparts based in Hong Kong or Singapore who have more expertise and experience with such developments.
PR1MA was established under the PR1MA Act 2012 to plan, develop, construct and maintain high-quality housing with lifestyle concepts for middle-income households in key urban centres.
Under the National Housing Agenda, PR1MA has been tasked to develop 500,000 units of affordable houses nationwide by 2020. It has set a target of 240,000 units for board approval, of which 232,807 units (97 per cent) have been approved.
So far, 883 units have been delivered over the past two years, and this year, PR1MA targets to deliver 10,000 units. As of last month, there were 1.22 million potential buyers registered with PR1MA and about 74,399 units under construction.
Mutalib, who was appointed PR1MA CEO in 2011, is a strong proponent of the industrialised building system (IBS), especially for landed property projects.
“With IBS, I save time and money. The normal method will take up to two years to complete. Our team has gone through that system and they can deliver the houses very fast (12 to 14 months).”
PR1MA’s pace of delivery is expected to increase, averaging between 20,000 and 40,000 units a year from next year onwards.
“In our five-year plan of the 500,000 units (2020 target), we target to deliver 210,000 units by 2018. About 160,000 to 180,000 units will then be under construction, which means that we can start selling, while the balance of about 130,000 units will be under planning.”
Mutalib said among the challenges PR1MA faces is to make sure that it comes up with the right products that meet the demand, and also in dealing with the authorities from various areas to get approvals.
“A few states are quite proactive in that sense. It makes our life easier. There’s nothing much we can do except to work within the system.”
Mutalib also pointed out that “housing starts” can become one of country’s leading economic indicators, as in the US.
“That statistics is very predictive for the economy. What it means is that housing addresses two things. One, it is a basic need of every social being, it doesn’t matter whether it’s medium- or low-cost housing as long as it is housing.
“Secondly, housing also has multiplier effects in terms of the supply chain and consumption. When the house is ready and the owners move in, they need to buy electrical products and furniture. These are the spillover effects.”
For Mutalib, there’s the satisfaction of seeing how PR1MA has influenced the industry to rethink the way they serve customers.
“When we talk to our partners and co-developers, there is an emerging trend that the big players in the industry are also talking about affordable housing. To me, this is good. As far as members of the public are concerned, they have more variety and products to choose from.
“We didn’t plan this, but in a small way, we are actually trying to balance or be a catalyst for the market to focus on this group which has been neglected for a long time,” he added.