Tiang: Special taskforce to reduce number of ‘sick’ housing projects

SIBU (Aug 31): The special taskforce set up by the Ministry of Public Health, Housing and Local Government is working on various ways and channels to reduce the number of ‘sick’ housing projects in Sarawak to the minimal.

However, the number of such projects in Sarawak is lower than in Peninsular Malaysia, deputy minister Datuk Michael Tiang pointed out.

He said this when officiating at Sarawak Housing Real Estate Developers Association (Sheda) Property Roadshow 2024 in Wisma Sanyan here yesterday.

He added that the taskforce set up last year had achieved some milestones in their mission.

“Slowly and gradually, I will announce to the press on our accomplished mission – some of the (sick) projects which have been successfully salvaged.

“Many people buy one house their whole life and some of the sick projects are stuck for 10 or 20 years – it is totally unfair to those purchasers,” said Tiang, who heads the special taskforce.

He said while the government could not step into some private ventures, they could mobilise the various agencies under the taskforce to assist.

“What we can do is to bring our various agencies in the special taskforce in helping to expedite and facilitate the property developers to finish the projects so that they can deliver a complete product to the house buyers.

“I know this involves a lot of legal disputes, but the ultimate objective of the purchasers is to have a house to move in. So we help them to move in but of course, some of the legal disputes, we leave it to the Tribunal or to the court’s jurisdiction.

“But what we can do is to make sure that the project is completed and purchasers can move into their dream home – that is our target,” he said.

He also suggested that the housing tribunal be more accessible to the public by having roadshows across Sarawak to educate consumers about their rights and where to lodge their grievances.

Earlier in his remarks, he called on the developers to also look into the aesthetic aspect of their projects as they add to the beauty of Sibu town.

“And Sibu needs to move forward, having a futuristic look, equipped with green and sustainable structures,” he said, adding he would continue to work with Sheda on this.

Present were Sheda Sibu chairman Wong Siong Nee, Sibu Municipal Council chairman Clarence Ting, Sheda secretary-general John Yong and others.