The debate between state and federal authorities on Penang's low-cost and affordable housing issue continued this morning in the state assembly.
State housing exco Jagdeep Singh Deo (DAP-Datuk Keramat) and opposition leader Datuk Jahara Hamid (BN-Teluk Air Tawar) engaged in an exchange when the latter gave assurance that PR1MA (1Malaysia People’s Housing) projects planned for Penang would be delivered.
"I can guarantee that PR1MA will deliver its promise. If not, it would be a blow to Barisan Nasional," she said after Jagdeep challenged the federal government to prove that the homes were coming.
Penang had been asking Putrajaya for some time on what had happened to the PR1MA projects planned for the state.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced in December 2012 that Penang would be getting 20,000 units of low-cost and affordable houses under the PR1MA programme to address concerns that homes here were becoming too expensive for locals to own.
It was also reported that the projects would be built on federal-owned land and those belonging to the Penang Regional Development Authority, JKP Sdn Bhd and Syarikat Perumahan Nasional Bhd (SPNB), with the first development of some 2,000 units to be constructed in Kampung Kastam, Bukit Gelugor.
Jahara said if the Penang government could accuse Putrajaya of failing to build the affordable homes for the people, the same could be said to the Pakatan Rakyat administration.
"Tell us if the state has built low-cost and affordable homes in Penang and where. If the projects are just in planning stages, then just say so," she said. – November 7, 2014.
Jahara defended federal agencies JKP and Perda that had been taken to task by the state for planning to build luxury units among their low-cost and affordable housing projects.
"Only a small number of the houses are to be expensive. If the price is not agreeable to the state, it can be negotiated.
"But are Datuk Keramat (Jagdeep) and Air Putih (Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng) ready to consider the applications by the agencies positively, so that the projects can proceed to provide low-cost, low-medium cost and affordable homes to the people?"
The state and Penang Umno chairman Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman, who is Penang Federal Action Council chairman, had been in a spat over unapproved planning permissions for 9,444 units of houses by JKP and Perda.
Zainal had complained about the state stalling the projects for two years, which included more than 2,000 low-cost units, while the state took the agencies to task for building luxury units priced at more than RM1 million on land acquired for public interest.
Jagdeep said he had been authorised by the state to meet Zainal to discuss the projects but the latter had not gone to see him.
He said the meeting was initially set for Monday but Zainal declined, sending reps from JKP and Perda instead.
"He did not see me because he had no answers (to the questions the state is asking about the projects)," he said.
Earlier, the house also heard in length about the state's flood-mitigation efforts for the island, which was hit by flash floods on October 3 after a downpour of a few hours.
Chow Kon Yeow (DAP-Padang Kota), the exco in charge of flood mitigation, said the state would have to learn from the incidents in Cameron Highlands to prevent floods caused by hillslope developments.
"On hillslopes above Air Itam, Teluk Bahang and Mengkuang dams, there are no major developments, except for some small-scale farming.
"In Cameron Highlands, agricultural activities on slopes above the dam are major," he said, adding that some news reports had cited the lack of coordination and political interference, as well as developments on the slopes among others as the causes.
Chow was asked by Wong Hon Wai (DAP-Air Itam) if Penang could learn from the disaster in Cameron Highlands, which had also happened last year.
It was reported that Bertam Valley, Kuala Terla and Ringlet in the highlands were hit by flash floods and landslides following unusually heavy rain on Wednesday.
The disaster killed three so far and injured several others. –TMI
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