UNDER Rumah Spektra Permata (Spektra) affordable housing scheme, the state government will build 164 housing units at Sibuluh Resettlement Scheme.
Assistant Housing and Local Government Minister Dr Annuar Rapaee said that this was actually part of the 2,500 Spektra units to be built by the state government throughout Sarawak.
“This will commence early next year to fulfil its promise to the people,” he said.
He was replying to a question from Datuk Henry Harry Jinep (GPS-Tasik Biru) at the State Legislative Assembly yesterday on whether the state government would implement an affordable housing programme similar to the discontinued federal Rumah Mesra Rakyat 1 Malaysia (RMR1M).
Henry pointed out that many of the RMR1M project applications were not approved.
Annuar also said, “Housing is a concurrent list between the federal and state governments. If we look at the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto for GE14, they promised to build one million houses within two terms; in other words, 100,000 units per year.”
“Because of this, Miri MP Dr Michael Teo (PH) became very excited and asked for ten percent of the 100,000 units to be built in Miri,” he continued.
However, he said that on July 1 this year, the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) revealed the “report card of the first year of the PH government”.
“There are four unrealistic promises. In other words, they can become lies,” he said.
According to Annuar, one of the unrealistic promises had to do with housing. He pointed out that at the rate that the PH government was going now, they would only be able to build 3,528 houses in the first year of its rule.
“This is only 3.5 percent and I do not know how many houses have been built in Miri.”
Thus, he explained, the state government launched Spektra to “substitute the empty or broken promises made by PH”.
He also spoke about Kampung Tabuan Melayu Selipar Putus where the federal government had terminated their affordable housing programme.
