GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Federal Action Council has taken the state government to task for not approving the planning permission applications for 15 projects submitted by federal agencies since 2012.

Council chairman Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman said the projects, by JKP Sdn Bhd and the Penang Regional Development Authority (Perda), could have given Penang 9,444 homes, of which 2,447 would have been low-cost units.

Of the 9,444 units proposed, he said 48.1% on mainland Penang are priced below RM250,000 while 16.1% on the island are under RM400,000, abiding by the ceiling price for affordable homes set by the state government.

That means 64.21% of the houses the two federal agencies are planning to build are under the ceiling prices. This number is much larger than those priced above the ceiling level.

“Only landed properties such as terraces homes built by Perda and JKP are above the ceiling prices, which are different from the high-rise or apartments the state government are offering. It is not proper to compare the two different types of homes,” he said yesterday.

Zainal said both agencies are involved in mixed development projects to cater to market demand, and their businesses could not be confined to only low-cost, low-medium and affordable housing for bumiputeras in Penang. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 10, 2014.