The proceeds from the contributions of developers exempted from building affordable housing will be used for low cost and low medium cost housing projects in the state.

State Houisng, Town and Country Planning and Housing Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo (pix) said the funds would be used for projects in Seberang Perai that were identified to replace units which were not being built by developers in their development projects.

“Local developers on the island have to pay a contribution of RM120,000 per unit while those outside Penang need to pay RM150,000 per unit.

“The same rates also applied to both local and foreign developers at RM72,500 for each unit for development in Seberang Perai Utara and Seberang Perai Tengah,” he said when winding up the debate on the Penang 2017 Budget for his committee at the state Legislative Assembly sitting here today.

He said since 2012, this policy was introduced to address the land constrains faced by developers to build low cost and low medium cost houses for which developers had to pay contributions based on formulated calculations.

At the sitting on Tursday, opposition leader Datuk Jahara Hamid, when debating on the 2017 Budget, queried the status of the Low Cost Public Housing Trust Fund and wanted to know if donations collected would be spent by the state government to build low cost houses.

Jahara said the policy had resulted in an imbalance between low cost house application and supply of houses by developers.

Jagdeep said up to October 2016 the payment of contributions received amounted to RM124.38 million for 17 projects on the island and three in Seberang Perai.

Source: Bernama