The Rumawip (Federal Territories Affordable Housing Project) project will soon be known as the Residensi Wilayah affordable housing project.
While the rebranded program would be based on the same concept, that is providing affordable homes for first-time buyers, it would not be the same as PPR or low-cost flats, said Federal Territories (FT) Minister Khalid Abdul Samad.
“What is different about Residency Wilayah is that it is an upgrade in terms of size, has better quality and finishing, and lower density,” he said.
Rumawip, for instance, had around 1,200 occupants per acre, Residensi Wilayah will only have 800 to 1,000 occupants per acre, reported The Star.
“If a Rumawip project previously had about 400 apartment units, a Residensi Wilayah project would only have about 250 units.”
To retain its affordable home concept, apartment unit price would still be capped at RM300,000.
“The Residensi Wilayah homes are for the middle-income group, such as professionals, newly-weds and those looking to buy their first homes,” said Khalid, while noting that Residensi Wilayah homes may be built on private or government land.
“We will work with private developers and offer them incentives to encourage them to build Residensi Wilayah homes, such as lower premium rates and lower development charges,” he added.
He revealed that the ministry is looking to launch 10,000 units this year, which may be completed by around 2021.
Khalid explained there are still some land in Kuala Lumpur that can be used for Residensi Wilayah homes.
This comes as the Negotiations Task Force was able to renegotiate or cancel some dubious land deals in 2018.
“Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) was able to acquire an additional RM149mil in revenue, after 23 out of 97 land transactions were renegotiated with developers and landowners…There were 10 projects that were cancelled and developer’s deposits refunded, so the land has been returned to DBKL,” he said.
He added that the FT Ministry is also planning to have urban redevelopment at parts of Kuala Lumpur, where old and dilapidated walk-up flats may be redeveloped with Residensi Wilayah affordable homes and existing residents given new units for free.
Image source: Berita Harian
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