KUALA LUMPUR: Basic houses under the Federal Land Development Authority’s (Felda) Second Generation Housing Programme can be as affordable as RM45,000 through a smart partnership with Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd (SPNB).
“We will deliver on the promise of building 20,000 homes for settlers by the end of next year,” said Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad in an interview commemorating his 100th day as Felda chairman.
The Felda New Generation Housing Project has three phases — Phase 1 involves 8,454 units, Phase 2 involves 10,746 units and Phase 3 involves 800 units.
“I’m optimistic we can achieve this via a smart partnership with SPNB,” Shahrir said.
Shahrir, who is also Johor Baru member of parliament, cited SPNB’s track record with the Rumah Contoh Rumah Mesra Rakyat 1Malaysia programme in Felda Air Tawar 3, Kota Tinggi.
Under Phase 1, Felda settlers’ children pay RM90,000 per terrace house with a floor area of 1,000 sq ft. While the houses are of high quality, Felda
is subsidising RM690 million under Phase 1.
Shahrir said despite the high subsidy amount, the terrace house was relatively high-cost because it was situated in the settlement area.
Nevertheless, he said, the agency would follow through with delivering all 8,454 terrace houses under Phase 1 because the contracts had already been signed.
He said Felda’s board of directors recently decided on another option to collaborate with SPNB. Felda could tap into SPNB’s expertise with affordable homes.
“There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Felda doesn’t need to go it alone. For Phase 2 and 3, SPNB can come up with a 700 sq ft house priced at RM45,000.
“SPNB builds a start-up house on the 3,000 sq ft plot of land Felda provides. Under this smart partnership, the subsidy for 20,000 start-up houses can be lowered to RM600 million.”
Compare this with the RM690 million subsidy for 8,454 terrace houses under Phase 1, the subsidy for the start-up houses had been halved.
Although the start-up house of 700 sq ft is smaller than the 1,000 sq ft terrace houses under Phase 1, Shahrir assured that these houses could be expanded and upgraded according to the settler’s income and family size.
“The subsidy can be optimised when Felda provides the land and infrastructure cost, while SPNB focuses on building the start-up houses.
“I think this is a practical option to deliver 20,000 start-up houses with SPNB by the end of next year.”