TWO hundred and twenty-six private housing development projects in Peninsular Malaysia have been abandoned since 2009.

Deputy Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Halimah Mohd Sadique said the abandoned projects affected 40,866 house buyers.

“Of this total, the ministry has helped revive 182 abandoned projects involving 32,641 house buyers,” she said in reply to a question by Datuk Hasbullah Osman (BN-Gerik).

Halimah said 20 abandoned projects were in various stages of construction work involving 4,610 buyers, with initial plans to revive 24 other projects involving 3,615 buyers.

She cited several reasons why the housing projects were abandoned, and these included poor management, lack of finances, low buyer response, legal disputes and the rising cost of materials.

To address this issue, Halimah said amendments were made to the Housing Development Act to impose stricter regulations on developers while giving house buyers greater protection.

“For example, developers will have to place a deposit of 3% of their project’s total cost with the housing fund, compared with RM250,000 previously.

“Buyers can also now terminate their agreement with the developers if there is no sign of work at the project site for six months,” she added.

Halimah said the ministry would also step in to assist affected house buyers to negotiate loan terms.

She said the ministry was upgrading its My Teduh online database to allow house buyers to check the status of their proposed housing project.