No compromise on quality of affordable housing project
Important agreement: Murly (second left) exchanging documents with Zaini after the signing ceremony between MBSB and Aspen Group. With them are Nazir (left) and Abdul Halim.
Aspen Group Holdings Sdn Bhd’s RM400mil Tri Pinnacle project will be the first affordable housing scheme on Penang island with a high quality ambience.
Its chief executive officer Datuk Manokharan Murly said the project, located on a 4ha site in Mount Erskine in Tanjung Tokong, was open to first-time house buyers registered with the state government.
It will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Tri Pinnacle will have 390 units of 650sq ft low medium-cost (LMC) apartments priced at RM72,500 and 859 units of 800sq ft affordable condominiums priced at RM299,000.
Also present were MBSB President and chief executive officer Datuk Zaini Othman, MBSB chairman Tan Sri Abdul Halim Ali and Aspen Group chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Ariff.
Murly added that the state government would expedite the approval process of genuine applicants to buy the condominiums.
The MBSB loan facility will be used to defray the cost of the freehold site for the Tri Pinnacle project, according to Murly.
“We are here to dispel the common negative perception associated with LMC and medium cost (MC) developments which usually suffer from shoddy architectural design and quality, lack of facilities and security,” said Murly.
“Tri Pinnacle will stand out as an attractive spot to work and live.
“Landscaping, designed with vertical gardens, plays a prominent part in the scheme.
“It will create a natural buffer between the adjoining roads and car park podiums, and mitigate the heat effect,” he said.
Murly said the project would be designed with a 24-hour two-tier security access system.
There will be an elevated garden, a swimming pool, a basketball court, gymnasium, BBQ pits and children’s playground.
Meanwhile, Zaini said the collaboration enabled the company to be part of a vibrant project that would contribute to Penang’s property development sector.
“Other than providing financing facilities to Aspen Group, we will also extend an attractive financing package to its home buyers.
“MBSB is managing several property development projects on the island through contract financing, bridging projects as well as structured financing initiatives,” he said.
Source: StarProperty.my
If done well, this will be an eye-opener. Those young people who can afford not more than RM300k for housing will find out that “affordable gov apartments” is not synonymous to “pariah flats”.
In fact, they should slot in 200 units of RM400k 1000sf apartments for those who prefer a slightly more spacious living space.
Nice affordable apartments is definitely a good news. Something like HDB in Singapore?
Not only it must be constructed well, a policy has to be in place (like cannot rent/sell out for the first 5 years, etc…) in order to make the whole thing successful.
@Sam
Hallo? The state has already put in rules, (1) can’t resell in open market for 10 years, unless approval from the state, during which the unit can only be sold to someone on “mampu milik” list (2) cannot be rented out.
In fact, we should not restrict ourselves within HDB standards. We must aim to do better than HDB.
@AhBeng
Oh, that’s good. Then ensures the enforcement is done properly. Of course we should aim to do better than HDB scheme, our condition (economy, market demand) could be different than Singapore.
The final aim should be to provide a descent affordable house to people while not killing the private property development.
@Sam
The 10-year moratorium is easy to enforce as the land office can be the control point. The rental part could be a little bit tricky, but with proper systems and whistleblowing mechanism, it can also easily be done.
It is in fact very easy to implement schemes to make good housing affordable. The hard part is always weather we are confident enough to not rely on construction industry and property asset appreciation to feed our people. If we can achieve that confidence, we can always stop foreigners from buying our properties, and make it extremely costly to hold multiple properties, effectively significantly reducing demand for properties.
@Sam
The 10-year moratorium is easy to enforce as the land office can be the control point. The rental part could be a little bit tricky, but with proper systems and whistleblowing mechanism, it can also easily be done.
It is in fact very easy to implement schemes to make good housing affordable. The hard part is always weather we are confident enough to not rely on construction industry and property asset appreciation to feed our people. If we can achieve that confidence, we can always stop foregners from buying our properties, and make it extremely costly to hold multiple properties, effectively significantly reducing demand for properties.
Malaysia have 1 problem.. know how to build but dunno how to maintain. HDB knows how to maintain. That is the main issue.
Really value for money. I like the fact that they limit their selling price to RM300k. Most middle income can afford.
@Elmo
The maintenance depends on the owners. With the price of RM300k, you are probably looking at the same owner profile as The Peak, which belongs to the same price bracket when owners bought it from developer.
Until the owner know how to maintain it, a rules should be created to force/ educate them.
Guarantee got Gangster Contractor once completed. if can complete…