Sabah DAP chairman Stephen Wong revealed that Barisan Nasional (BN) has failed in its promise to provide one million affordable homes, reported Free Malaysia Today.
In fact, only 27 percent of the promised figure have been built since BN won the 2013 general election, said Wong, who also serves as Sandakan MP.
In replying to Wong’s question, Federal Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Noh Omar explained that the government remains committed to delivering one million affordable homes by 2018, with each unit priced at RM300,000 and below.
He added that the government has set a different target for every state. The target for Johor, for instance, is 128,436 affordable homes, 58,440 units for Kedah, 37,915 units for Sarawak, 72,310 units for Sabah and 69,762 units for Kuala Lumpur.
However, Wong said it is impossible for the government to build around 730,000 homes before the next general election.
“How can the government complete the construction of more than 700,000 houses within a year?”
He also expressed disappointment on the 17,665 units built in Sabah, which accounted for only 24 percent of the 72,310 units targeted for the state.
He underscored that while Sabah has lower median income level compared to peninsular Malaysia, property prices within the state are higher – making Sabah homes the most unaffordable.
Institute Rakyat’s research showed that Sabah housing’s affordability index is the highest at 11.48, or double the national index of 5.78, with the index indicating how unaffordable it is to acquire a home based on the median salary and house prices in each state.
“It shows how difficult it is for a Sabahan to own a house,” said Wong.
“This situation shows that if BN fails to deliver its promise, then it fails to meet the demand of Sabahans, and BN is going to pay a heavy price for its failure.”
Image sourced from FMT
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