New low-cost houses a boon to those with big families
19/06/2007 The Star COMMENT By V.K. CHIN

THE low-income group in Kuala Lumpur will be given the chance to own cheap and bigger homes under a plan to provide them with better accommodation.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced recently that three-room flats would be sold to them at RM35,000 each.

City Hall is building 32,000 units to be sold or rented out to eligible residents, who are either from squatter areas or in the low-income group.

This is to ensure that this underprivileged group will be able to buy or rent accommodation in the city where prices and rentals are always at a premium.

This is not the only good news. Pak Lah also said that the Government had approved RM28mil for the maintenance of such buildings in Kuala Lumpur; RM7mil for cleaning, and RM6.5mil for maintenance of lifts.

These extras will come in handy to keep such buildings in good condition. One of the realities of public housing is that they tend to break down due to poor maintenance.

After a few years, the flats will look dirty and unkempt and living conditions will be deplorable and the environment will become an eyesore.

In particular, lifts will break down or run down due to vandalism and inconsiderate use by residents. This will cause great inconvenience to those living on the upper floors since they will have to climb up or down many steps to get home or to go out.

To overcome such problems in future, the Government has decided to provide the money to City Hall to make sure that such buildings are liveable and not run down in just a few years.

The money will definitely make life easier for those who will have the chance to own or rent such flats, and they should appreciate what is being done for them. They should return this favour by cooperating with the authorities to keep all facilities in good shape.

It is also up to those who are in charge of maintenance to spend the money wisely to minimise wastage. They must see to it that every sen is used properly to benefit residents and not their own pockets.

Another issue uppermost in the public mind is that the allocation of such flats must be done in a transparent manner. No doubt public balloting will be conducted as part of this process.

Pak Lah also said that such low-cost projects would be built nation-wide. This is indeed excellent news for those living in other states since they too will stand to benefit from this scheme.

However, some state governments may need to be convinced to speed up such projects. But the problem may be the location. They may only be prepared to build such affordable units in out of the way places where demand will be low for obvious reasons.

If this should happen, then the response would be disappointing since those eligible for such units would not be interested to live too far away from any major town or city.

But the main concern is that there should be no abuse in the distribution of such low-cost units, since this would defeat the purpose of helping those really in need of such affordable accommodation.