TRANSLATED BY ANNABELL NAJA TOMMY
BINTULU: Sarawak needs more funds from the federal government to build more affordable houses to meet the urgent need for home ownership in the state.
Sarawak Deputy Premier Datuk Seri Sim Kui Hian said it follows an urgent need to build more affordable houses, especially here to accommodate the increased migration of rural residents to the town.
In that context, he said, the federal government needs to bear a shared responsibility to help the people of Sarawak own a home.
“A house is a basic need of every family, thus becoming an urgent need for the people of this state following the migration of many people from the countryside to the city,” he said at the Key Handover Ceremony of Sri Pertiwi Taman Sri Indah Phase 1 Kidurong here, on Friday.
Dr Sim, who is also the Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government, added based on the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s (DOSM) 2020 Head of Household (KIR) Study, the number of KIR in the country is 646,00 while the number of residences is 843,000.
“How this happened, this may be due to a lot of migration from rural areas to cities,” he said.
In the meantime, he described the Sarawak government as having played a fairly effective role in the effort to provide more affordable homes when it successfully built and completed affordable homes in the house key handover ceremony for its buyers.
He further said that with the collaboration of the Sarawak government through Bintulu Development Authority (BDA) and Johabaru Realty, a total of 107 units of Rumah Sri Pertiwi have been completed this year in Bintulu and will continue until 2025.
Also present were Tanjong Batu assemblyman Johnny Pang, BDA deputy chairman Datuk Haidar Khan Asghar Khan, Bintulu Division Resident Nyurak Keti and Johabaru Reality Sdn Bhd managing director William Ting.
