PROPOSED REDEVELOPMENT OF THREE AGEING HOUSING AREAS UNABLE TO PROCEED - AMIRUDIN

SHAH ALAM, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- The Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) has identified three housing areas aged over 30 years for redevelopment since 2015, but the proposals have not been able to move forward.

Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said efforts to redevelop ageing housing areas under the urban redevelopment initiative have faced significant challenges, particularly in securing residents’ consent and managing rising costs.

He said the three locations are the PKNS Apartments in AU3 Ulu Kelang, PKNS Apartments Section 17, Petaling Jaya and PKNS Apartments Section 16, Shah Alam.

“However, the proposal could not move forward because residents did not achieve the more than 80 per cent agreement required by the Housing and Local Government Ministry (KPKT),” he said during the Selangor State Assembly sitting here today.

He was responding to an oral question from Datuk Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi (PN-Sijangkang) on the state government's plans to redevelop housing estates over 30 years old that have become dilapidated and were developed by a state government subsidiary.

Amirudin said that beyond the issue of resident consent, several other factors have also hindered the urban redevelopment project, including high compensation demands and challenges in identifying a suitable temporary relocation site.

“We also need to provide a temporary relocation site before the original houses are demolished. We cannot simply ask residents to leave, demolish the buildings, and only bring them back two or three years later,” he said.

Amirudin said developers interested in participating must have strong financial capacity, as the reconstruction process involves high costs. They would need to invest between RM100 million and RM150 million solely to build temporary relocation blocks, and not all are prepared to bear such a large expense.

He added that the state government will continue to thoroughly review the urban redevelopment model to ensure the projects can be implemented successfully without placing undue burden on residents or developers.

“If urban redevelopment is not carried out, these ageing housing areas will continue to deteriorate, be abandoned and become unsafe to live in - and this is a major challenge for us,” he said.

-- BERNAMA