By Jane Alia
THE Sarawak government is committed to providing various initiatives, including the Housing Deposit Assistance Scheme (HDAS), in order to realise the dream of people, especially the low-income group (B40) and the middle-income group (M40), to own their first home under the affordable housing scheme.
Through Mutiara Mortgage and Credit Sdn Bhd (Mutiara) — a wholly-owned subsidiary of Housing Development Corporation (HDC), Sarawak — eligible first-time house buyers are provided cash assistance of 10 per cent of property purchase price or RM10,000 (whichever is lower) for payment of housing deposit.
According to Mutiara chief executive officer Shaharony Mat Nor, as the state’s best non-banking financier, they assist house buyers to enjoy financing that combines value and benefits where they also offer a flexible home financing scheme to suit the needs of house buyers.
“The state government has allocated RM10 million for this purpose (payment of housing deposit).
“For the record, Sarawak is the only state in Malaysia that has such an initiative where we already have over 800 customers and during the four years of operation, none of the people from the B40 and M40 groups, who took the home financing from us (Mutiara), has ever defaulted,” he said.
To be eligible for the scheme, the applicant must be a first-time home buyer, belong to the B40 or M40 group, a Sarawakian with the status of Permanent Resident, purchased property only from Mutiara registered developers, and Sales and Purchase Agreement or booking / Sales Confirmation Slip issued by a developer that is dated not earlier than Oct 12, 2021.
However, this scheme is only applicable to affordable housing projects sanctioned by the state government subject to the maximum price of RM300,000.
“Those who wish to build a house on their land (which has been approved by the Land and Survey Department) on allotment of land under the Village Expansion Scheme (SPK) or Resettlement Scheme (SPS) are also eligible.
“For the purchase of a house using this scheme, the buyer must first identify the house from which developer they want to buy — the developer must be registered with us (Mutiara) — then, the developer would help the buyer to apply for HDAS. With this, buyers do not have to go to our office to apply,” added Shaharony.
Apart from that, in addressing the needs of the poor, especially involving houses, the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) state government has also introduced the Program Penambahbaikan Rumah Rakyat Miskin Sarawak (PPRMS).
This state-funded programme under the minor rural project (MRP) was introduced in 2018 following the drastic cut in federal funds for a similar programme (Program Perumahan Rakyat Termiskin or PPRT) which was previously undertaken by the former Barisan Nasional government before it lost in the 14th general election to Pakatan Harapan.
Not to be forgotten, for those who live in rural areas, especially longhouse residents, the Sarawak government also provides an individual Longhouse Loan Scheme which comes in the form of building materials, with a maximum loan value of RM30,000 per door — without interest.
Over the last two years, the state government had allocated RM100 million for this scheme through the Ministry of Public Health, Housing and Local Government.
To be eligible for the scheme, the applying longhouse must be on a valid land site with a minimum of 10 doors, and priority is given to new applicants who have housing sites and road facilities, which are important in avoiding any delay in transporting the building materials, which should be delivered within six months after an application is approved.
Besides that, in order to ensure that house prices do not burden the B40 and M40 buyers, the state government has also advised developers to use the Industrialised Building System (IBS) in house construction.
HDC has taken steps to build an IBS factory in Kuching for which the ground-breaking ceremony was held on March 28, 2018.
