The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) has promised to slash the price of affordable homes by between RM50,000 and RM180,000 if it wins in the upcoming general election, reported the Malay Mail Online.
According to its 25-page manifesto for the 14th general elections (GE14), which is expected to be held next August or earlier, it intends to significantly bring down the price of low-cost dwellings by having the government share in the cost of such properties. This is via the adoption of sukuk al-ijarah or ownership sharing between individuals or entities.
The political party also pledged to look into the process in which land is sold to developers to find ways of slashing construction cost. Another vow is to stabilise home prices by controlling the price of construction materials, as well as reduce power tariff rates by five to 10 percent based on the type of home.
PAS also swore to create a low-cost and efficient public transport system for suburbs and rural areas. This is in addition to offering free school bus services, re-introducing petrol subsidies and restructuring toll concession deals surpassing 15 years.
It also vowed to ease the financial burden of first-time car buyers by eliminating the interest rate of automobile loans and exempting them from excise taxes for vehicles with 1,300 cc engine or less.
Another promise is to relax the Authorised Permit (AP) system for imported items like food, automobiles and building materials.
Besides the provision of a one-time cash aid amounting to RM2,000 to women so they can begin working from home, it also has pledged to hand out monthly food aid to indigents.
Among its 20 major promises, PAS also vowed to increase the number of doctors and hospitals across the country to meet the standards of the United Nations (UN), and deploy more police in communities to combat crime.
Ten days before, opposition party Pakatan Harapan (PH) was the first group to launch its GE14 manifesto prior to that of PAS. Under Pakatan’s manifesto, it pledged to rescind highway tolls and reduce excise taxes for imported vehicles below 1,600 cc for first-time car buyers.
Unlike Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto that vowed to accomplish 10 promises in 100 days and another 60 pledges in five years, the PAS manifesto gave no time frame.
Meanwhile, the manifesto of the ruling party Barisan Nasional is expected to be unveiled on 7 April.
Image sourced from Malay Mail Online
This article was edited by the editorial team of PropertyGuru. To contact them about this or other stories email editorialteam@propertyguru.com.my
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