KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 20 housing development accounts (HDA) have been frozen by authorities over "sick" housing projects, says Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir.
The Deputy Local Government Development Minister told the Dewan Rakyat the decision to freeze the accounts was based on investigations that found the developers had neglected their responsibilities, which could jeopardise the interests of buyers.
ALSO READ: Protect house buyers, says Akmal
"Additionally, developers can be fined up to a maximum of RM50,000 if they fail to fulfil their obligations as stipulated under the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 and its regulations," he said in reply to a question from Zahir Hassan (PH-Wangsa Maju) during Question Time on Tuesday (Oct 24).
Zahir had asked the ministry to state the effectiveness of using HDAs to control the problem of abandoned and sick housing projects.
According to Akmal Nasrullah, a total of 284 fines were issued for violations under Section 7 (e) of the Act from last year to date.
ALSO READ: Amendments to Housing Development Act being fine-tuned
He added that the National Housing Department had consistently made lure that licensed housing developers complied with all the existing regulations.
On a question related to Budget 2024, he said that a proposal involving a special guarantee fund to revive stalled projects will be presented to the Finance Ministry.
The proposal included utilisation of the fund for affordable housing project units below RM300,000 and for projects that have already exceeded 80% progress.
"In addition, we are also looking at housing programmes under federal agencies and state authorities, especially affordable housing projects facing the risk of becoming sick or stalled," he added in reply to a supplementary question.
ALSO READ: Budget 2024: Govt allocates RM24.7bil for people's housing projects
Zahir had also asked about the government's approach to resolving housing projects classified as distressed or stalled.
The government has allocated RM2.47bil under Budget 2024 to implement people's housing projects (PPR).
When tabling the Budget on Oct 13, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is also Finance Minister, said this included a special RM1bil guarantee fund to encourage responsible developers to revive abandoned projects.
