The Penang government has extended by six months the validity period of the award letter for SRS Consortium, the project delivery partner (PDP), of the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) project.

The award letter was to expire by the end of this month but will now be valid until June to allow the PDP more time to obtain the necessary approvals from the relevant authorities.

State Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the state did not anticipate the long time needed in getting the approvals.

“This is just a technicality and we will continue to extend the award letter until they obtain the necessary approvals from the various authorities for the project,” he said in a press conference yesterday when asked about the issue.

The RM27 billion PTMP is an ambitious undertaking to link Penang Island and the mainland with rail transit systems, new highways, trams, rapid bus routes and water taxis.

Funding the project hinges on reclaiming some 1,618ha of land but approval has to come from the federal government as reclaiming more than 100ha must be referred to the National Physical Planning Council.

In April last year, the state submitted plans for a light railway transit (LRT) system linking Komtar and Bayan Lepas to the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD).

The LRT line, a Pan Island Link (PIL) highway and the proposed reclamation are the first phase of the PTMP.

In a related issue, Chow said the public display of the PDP request for proposal (RFP) documents has been extended until Feb 28 at the Dewan Sri Pinang.

He said 70 people have viewed the documents to date and feedback from 13 people, questions and suggestions have been recorded.

“Out of the 13, four suggested the display period should be extended,” he said.

Source: TheSunDaily.my

Developers in the state can now choose to settle 60% of contribution charges using corporate guarantees.

Real Estate & Housing Developers Association (Rehda, Penang) chairman Datuk Toh Chin Leong said previously 60% of the contribution in the form of development and infrastructure charges had to be settled using bank guarantees, while the remaining 40% by cash.

“This new policy allow 60% of the amount to be settled using corporate guarantees, while the remaining 40% is settled by cash.

“This help to ease the cash flow situation of developers and will also reduce the risk bridging loans for their projects,” Toh said.

Toh said at a Rehda Chinese New Year dinner that Kuala Lumpur-based and Penang-based developers were now exploring how to best implement projects under the new density guideline, which had increased the density per per acre to 128 units from 87 units.

“The additional 41 units per acre allows the developer to build more 600 sq ft to 700 sq ft units.

“The pricing for these properties is over RM400,000.

“Under the old guideline, developers, due to the lower density of 87 units per acre, have to focus on building larger units of 1,000 to 1,400 sq ft to sell at a higher price to generate a reasonable margin.

“If they build more smaller size units with a lower selling price under the old guideline, they would not be able to generate a decent margin,” Toh said.

On property prices in 2017, Toh expected prices to remain stable.

“There are two factors influencing property prices.

“On the one hand, the development charge of RM15 per sq ft to be paid, and the high cost of land and raw materials will influence developers to raise property prices.

“On the other hand, in order to stay competitive, however, developers would not raise prices drastically.

“They are likely to absorb these charges to be competitive.

“Prices would remain stable due to the soft property market and the difficulty in obtaining a bank loan,” Toh said.

There is also the forthcoming measure requiring the early payment of the stamp duty fee, which requires buyers to fork out the fee – which is usually over 2% of the purchase price of the property upon the signing of the S&P agreement.

Source: TheStar.com.my

More than 60% of potential 1Malaysia Housing Programme or PR1MA homebuyers had to give up their booked units due to problems with end-financing.

Hence, Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia has come up with a special end-financing scheme to help increase PR1MA homebuyers’ chances of getting home loans.

The new scheme called the Special PR1MA End Financing Scheme (SPEF) is exclusively for PR1MA homebuyers. It is established in collaboration with Bank Negara Malaysia, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and four local banks, namely Maybank, CIMB Bank, RHB Bank and Ambank.

“In the first few years, we were very much focused on finding out where the demand was and how many houses we had to build. Today, we are shifting our focus on how to help homebuyers get the financing for their purchase,” said PR1MA CEO Datuk Abdul Mutalib Alias at a media briefing on the new scheme today.

He added that last year, about 60% of PR1MA homebuyers gave up their booked units as they failed to secure housing loans or because the approved loan margin was too low.

“PR1MA has never been about just building homes. By launching this scheme, we hope those who thought that they were not financially eligible to own a PR1MA home previously would give it a try now,” he said.

The cornerstone of SPEF is the step-up financing and the step-up financing with EPF Account 2 withdrawal options. For both of these schemes, in the first five years, only the interest needs to be paid as the principal amount only kicks in from year six onwards until the loan is settled.

The step-up option combined with withdrawals from EPF Account 2 means that homebuyers can have access to a larger loan amount. The partner banks will take the loan applicant’s EPF Account 2 monthly contribution into consideration when calculating the final eligible loan amount. (See example below.)

However, the interest fee for this new scheme will be higher at 4.75% than the average conventional loan of 4.45%.

Abdul Mutalib also stressed that the scheme is subject to certain terms and conditions while eligibility will still depend on the borrower’s risk profile and credit assessment by the banks.

“I hope with this new scheme, we can achieve this year’s target of having 15,000 sales and purchase agreements signed,” he said.

As of January 2017, a total of 260,188 units have been approved by the PR1MA board while some 132,352 units are being constructed. A total of 1.377 million people have registered for PR1MA homes nationwide.

Example of loan eligibility calculation

Special PR1MA end financing scheme

Source: TheEdgeProperty.com.my

The Penang state government said today it will absorb RM55.19 million in assessment rates for all property owners and Goods and Services Tax (GST) for all its services in the state this year.

While launching an awareness drive on the assessment rate exemption at Penang Island City Council (MBPP), Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said all low-cost, low medium-cost housing and kampung house owners in the state are exempted from paying assessment rates this year.

“The remaining property owners, including commercial properties, will be given 6 per cent reduction,” he said at the City Hall here.

The exemptions will amount to RM14 million, the cost of which will be absorbed by both the MBPP and the Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP).

As for the 6 per cent reduction in assessment rates for the remaining property owners in the state, it will cost both councils RM21.74 million in total.

On top of that, both councils have also waived GST charges for its services, such as parking fees, and will have to bear the GST costs of RM19.36 million for both councils.

Both councils had already waived GST charges of RM19.36 million last year.

“We expect the economy to worsen in months to come especially with the increase in petrol prices and also increase in cooking oil prices so this exemption and reduction in assessment rate is to ease the people’s burden,” Lim said.

He said the state was able to give these exemptions and reductions because of its annual budget surpluses.

Source: TheMalayMailOnline.com

A proposed mixed development by Tatt Boot Development Sdn. Bhd. at Butterworth, Penang. Strategically located along the ever bustling Jalan Raja Uda, right next to Tow Boo Kong Temple.

This development will see the construction of low-rise 6-storey building, offering a mix of residential and commercial units:

• Condominium (109 units)
• 3-storey shop offices (6 units)
• single storey shop lot (7 units)

This development is still pending for approval. More details to be available upon project launch.

Project Name : (to be confirmed)
Location : Raja Uda, Butterworth, Penang
Property Type : Residential and commercial
Total Units: 109 (condo), 13 (commercial)
Built-up Size: (to be confirmed)
Developer : Tatt Boot Development Sdn. Bhd.

Location Map: