KUCHING: The State Government is coming up with its own strategy to have its own brand of housing models that are reasonable for the people.
Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Dr Abang Johari Tun Openg revealed that as a former minister of housing, he would want that the housing markets be within the reach of the buyers.
“We find that the prices of houses are extremely high and for semi-d, it may cost you RM600,000 in certain locations and perhaps in very premium location, the price is almost RM1,000,000 and this will deter our people to own houses.
“Therefore, I have a strategy to have our own brand and with the cooperation of developers, we will provide houses at a price range of RM250,000 to RM300,000.
“And with that cap, people will be able to buy reasonable cost houses and perhaps the low-cost, the so-called low cost, let the government do the low cost houses.
“The private developers must provide the medium cost houses as well as the higher end types of houses. And therefore, we can control the prices of between RM250,000 and RM300,000,” he said during the launching of Borneo Housing Mortgage Finance Berhad (BHMFB) three new products – the Tawarruq Home Financing-I, Tawarruq Term Deposit-I and Wadiah Saving Account-I – at Riverside Majestic Hotel here yesterday.
Abang Johari added that the government would be embarking on improving the public transport system including the LRT project.
“In this development plan, we are using the approach of transit oriented development and through this system, we may be able to open up a new area to build affordable housing.
“Within the new areas, with good public transport system, we may be able to build a new housing settlement which is near to LRT transits and use them to go to city centre with an estimated average time of 30 minutes.
“We can then open new settlement area and with the cost of land which is reasonable, the developers and the government can build houses within the range of RM250,000 and RM300,000 with a space of about 1,000 square feet and also three rooms and that will be able to provide good home for our people in Sarawak,” he explained.
Abang Johari hoped that this new brand would be introduced soon and would enable the people to own reasonably good homes.
“I am use Borneo Housing Mortgage Finance to purchase these houses within the range of RM250,000 and RM300,000.
“I will introduce this within six months and it is time for people to own reasonable model of houses.
“At this stage, we are negotiating with the developers that we have our own brand of housing model and we cannot rely on the brand from Kuala Lumpur,” he said.
Abang Johari disclosed that the Islamic financial system had seen tremendous growth in terms of demand, acceptance and development which was reflected by the increasing growth in the total Syariah-compliant assets, financing and deposits amongst the financial institutions over the years.
He added that Bank Negara Malaysia’s July 2017 statistics showed that the total assets of the Malaysian Islamic Banking System (IBS) at RM616.32 billion and total financing approved for Islamic banks stood at RM10.22 billion.
“The Sarawak Government has always been committed to providing Shariah-compliant financial products and services especially to the State Government officers. As such, Borneo Housing Mortgage Finance Bhd, being the management company of the State Government Officers’ home financing schemes, has been requested to provide Islamic financing products and services. On this note, I congratulate the Board of Directors and the management team for making great efforts to successfully develop and launch their Shariah-complaint financing products and services today,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chairman of BHMFB, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abdul Aziz Husain, revealed that Borneo Housing had been focusing on promoting home ownership for the people in Sabah and Sarawak and with an initial mortgage loan asset of only RM1,16 million as at end of 31 December 1959, the total mortgage loan asset now stood at around RM886.00 million, with potential of surpassing RM900.00 million in 2018.
“With Tawarruq Hom-Financing-I, we will be able to cater for the needs of our main target market group, namely the civil servants of the Sabah and Sarawak, employees of statutory bodies and agencies, who have been long awaiting for the arrival of this products.
“Borneo Housing, being the manager for state housing financing schemes for Sabah and Sarawak, is now in the position to offer an alternative financing products to them on top of the housing loan, a product that, for an increasing number of our potential customers, is more religiously correct,” he said.
However, he added that Tawarruq Home-Financing-i was not only meant for a specific group, it was suitable for everybody who needs home financing.
“We are a late entrant into the Islamic Financing market, but we are committed to continue serving our customers with the same high standard of customer service excellence as required under the ISO9001 quality standard under which we are certified,” said Abdul Aziz.
He disclosed that Tawarruq Term Deposit-I and Wadiah Saving Account-I were the two other products that were offered to customers and these products compliment the main financing products at competitive terms.
“We hope that the introduction of these new Islamic Financial products will further promote home ownership and provide savings options to cater for the needs of our customers,” he said.
