BY MAZWIN NIK ANIS JOSEPH KAOS JR
For the people: Najib, accompanied by Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar (centre), looking at a house model on display at the launch of Ampar Tenang PPR in Dengkil.
DENGKIL: The wait is almost over for some 400 estate workers who were relocated to make way for the development of Putrajaya some two decades ago.
With the Government having pledged to build houses for them, they will soon have homes to call their own.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said he was aware that the affected families had waited a long time for this moment, adding that despite the delay, the Government would deliver.
“I’m not sure why it took so long for this project to take off but let me assure you that you will all be getting your houses soon,” he said at the ground breaking event for the Ampar Tenang people’s housing project (PPR) yesterday.
The single-storey houses, scheduled to be completed in July 2019, have a market value of RM150,000 but are offered to them at only RM20,000 per unit.
Acknowledging the sacrifices made by the estate workers for Putrajaya, the Government is committed to ensuring that no one gets left behind as the country is developed or deprived of basic necessities such as housing, said Najib.
The promise to give houses to the estate workers, he said, was made by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1996.
“We are here to deliver on that promise. We (the Government) don't change the promises we made but he is the one who changed his promise to us,” he said, referring to Dr Mahathir's switch in allegiance to the Opposition.
“We hope the people will give continuous support to the present Government because we want to do more for their wellbeing,” he said.
Earlier, Najib said that the 1Malaysia People’s Housing Scheme (PR1MA) was a prime example of the importance that the Government puts on the bumiputra agenda.
He said PR1MA has awarded contracts amounting to RM15bil to 574 bumiputera firms since the scheme was launched in 2012.
“When we set up PR1MA, it was not just to build affordable homes for the people. We also wanted to provide opportunities to bumiputra developers, companies, contractors and professionals.
“At the same time, we are able to provide the bumiputra community with quality, affordable homes.
“And when we build these homes on bumiputra-owned land, the land value also goes up,” said Najib during the Rakan Bumiputra PR1MA programme at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre.
Najib, who is also Finance Minister, gave an assurance that the PR1MA project would receive continuous support from the Government so that it could achieve its target of building 500,000 affordable homes.
