THE government plans to reinitiate eight of the 24 cancelled projects that are parked under the PR1MA Corp Malaysia within this year.
Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said the initiative will include compensation of RM42 million to landowners who are affected by the cancellation.
“The Finance Ministry had just approved the redevelopment of these eight sites. For the remaining plots, we are looking at the viability and location of the parcels before deciding on how to restart the projects,” she told the press after handing over the offer letters to participants of the People’s Housing Programme (PPR) for Artists Community in Subang Jaya, Selangor, yesterday.
Also present was Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.
Zuraida said the eight projects, which are located outside the Klang Valley, are expected to start before the end of the year.
Last month, Zuraida said in a report that her ministry will have to pay compensation to landowners of the 24 development PR1MA projects that had been cancelled.
She said the compensation depends much on the value of the parcels at different locations.
Zuraida said the projects were cancelled as the parcels were deemed unsuitable with unstrategic locations that might not really have good market value.
“The redevelopment initiative is being coordinated under the National Housing Department system, which includes the Malaysian Civil Servants Housing and Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd which will be parked under one roof,” she said.
Zuraida did not reveal the other details of the parcels involved in the cancellation.
It is, however, understood that there are more “sick projects” that are at risk of cancellation. PR1MA now has a total of 94 projects nationwide.
In October last year, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) told the Parliament in a written reply that a total of 56 development projects under PR1MA, valued at RM9.98 billion, had been cancelled.
On a separate note, Saifuddin said the government has yet to discuss the probability of introducing a new e-commerce service tax to fund cyber-security efforts as widely reported this week.
Last Tuesday, his deputy, Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin, said Putrajaya was considering the scheme, adding that users of e-commerce platforms such as Lazada and Shopee could be charged as much as 20 sen for purchases below RM1,000 and additional 20 sen for every subsequent RM1,000.
“We have not yet discussed this,” Saifuddin said.
Earlier, Zuraida and Saifuddin presented the offer letters to recipients from the entertainment industry who qualify for the PPR at Lembah Subang 2, Selangor, via the Prihatin’s Artists Community Housing initiative.
Zuraida said KPKT has agreed to offer a total of 25 units of PPR houses to eligible names at Lembah Subang, as well as PPR projects in Kuala Lumpur.
The initiative is a joint-effort between the National Film Development Corp Malaysia under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia and KPKT to help art activists own affordable houses.
