GEORGE TOWN, Feb 25 ― The Penang state government has called for an urban regeneration law to allow for old housing schemes to be demolished and rebuilt.
Penang state exco Jagdeep Singh Deo said there is no single law that governed urban regeneration of old housing schemes in the country.
“Considerations should be given to create a law that incorporated urban regeneration to make the process easier and clearer so there are no inconsistency or doubt when implementing a regeneration project,” he said in a press conference after opening a workshop on redevelopment of strata schemes here.
He said under existing laws, there must be unanimous consent by residents before the regeneration project can be implemented.
“So if there are 1,000 units, 999 gave approval but one disagree and this meant the whole project could not go on,” he said.
Jagdeep said he has raised this issue with the housing ministry and the federal government is also looking into the legal aspects of implementing urban renewal projects.
He said Penang, through its urban renewal committee (URC), is planning several regeneration projects in the state.
These projects involved stratified projects but there are no provisions in the Strata Titles Act 1985 that allow for regeneration, so Jagdeep is pushing for Putrajaya to look into this seriously.
The local government, housing development and town and country planning committee chairman said urban regeneration is the way to cut down maintenance costs and at the same time, create more housing units.
“In Penang, we are a land-scarce island and many strata schemes on the island are old which should be regenerated which could create more units to cater to population growth,” he said.
He said urban regeneration is a big process and it will greatly impact housing in the future.
He added that the state has spent over RM55 million to maintain old low-cost and medium-cost housing in the state since 2008.
“The maintenance costs for old buildings is not economically viable compared to rebuilding and the amount spent on old buildings will only continue to grow as the buildings continue to get older,” he said.
The state has chosen Taman Mahsuri in Bayan Baru as a pilot project for its urban regeneration programme.
Jagdeep said the planning is at an advanced stage currently where about 99.9 per cent of the residents have agreed with the project.
He said there are less units in that housing scheme so it will be easier to relocate the residents for the rebuilding of the project.
The other bigger schemes that the URC is looking at are Taman Free School and Rifle Range.
He said they have also identified two schemes in Seberang Perai to undergo regeneration.
The Bayan Baru urban regeneration project is expected to kick off next year where all of the residents of the five blocks of five-storey flats will be placed in temporary homes.
The five blocks will be demolished and rebuilt within two to three years.
