LIPIS: The Pahang government has introduced their latest initiative 'Skim Tanah Warisan (STW)' to help more people in the low-income group (B40) across the state to own their first home.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail said the latest scheme was a move to help low income participants to build homes on land lots provided by the state government.
"STW is special as the area will be equipped with basic infrastructure such as roads, drainage, water supply and electricity. The aim of the scheme is to ease the financial burden of participants whereby they will be provided with the lots to build homes of their choice and they only need to fork out the construction costs.
"Kuala Medang has been chosen as the pilot project for STW where government land measuring 30.425 ha will be given to 250 participants. Each residential lot measures between 8,000 square feet and 10,000 square feet," he told reporters after launching and presenting offer letters to STW participants and 169 land titles to Kuala Medang Felcra participants at Kampung Kuala Medang here today.
Wan Rosdy, who is Jelai assemblyman, said the housing lots will be offered at a low price where the state government subsidises the land premium and infrastructure cost.
"The land premium payment for each plot is set at only RM10,000. The state government has set a moratorium of 10 years and participants are not allowed to sell their plots.
"Participants are allowed to lease their lands to financial institutions to secure loans to build their housing unit on the respective plots. The participants will have to fork out the cost to build the house and the design will depend on their financial ability and lot suitability....before starting construction, participants need to get the approval from the relevant authorities," he said.
Wan Rosdy said STW participants will be required to build their homes on the plots within five years from the date of ownership, but the state government is prepared to give participants more time in case there were unavoidable situations.
On the application process, Wan Rosdy said those interested could manually apply through the District and Land Office.
"Priority will be given to Pahang-born locals living in the same area for a certain length of time, those with low income jobs, yet to own a house and eligible participants selected by the STW selection committee.
"STW is a scheme provided for those in the B40 category including fishermen to own their homes or else they might not be able to have their own homes," he said.
On the next project, Wan Rosdy said Pekan has been identified for the second STW project and it will be expanded to other districts depending on land availability.
"We hope to have one STW project at each parliamentary constituency, but that is not a requirement as the projects will be done according to suitability.
"The STW was agreed during the state executive council meeting last year to offer various land schemes to help maximise land ownership among the people in Pahang," he said.