State Govt Provides Alternative Houses To RPTA Residents - Joachim

KOTA KINABALU, Jan 26  (Bernama) -- The Sabah government has provided various assistance for residents of Rumah Pangsa Tanjung Aru (RPTA) to move out, but there are still a few who refuse to do so, said State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam.

He said this was despite them being offered to move to the People's Housing Project (PPR) of the Housing and Urban Development Board (LPPB) or other houses under the local government authorities (PBT).

 "They have rejected the offer. LPPB has no choice and asked them to move to an alternative house of their own choice. They insist they do not want to move because they received inaccurate information from irresponsible parties," he said in a media statement here today.

Joachim said the dilapidated RPTA building, which is over 50 years old, is no longer safe to occupy and would incur a high cost of maintenance and repair, compared to the rental of the houses, which is only between RM124 - RM170 per month.

He said some RPTA  residents did not pay their rent, resulting in accumulated rental arrears of RM236,585.00 as of December last year and causing LPPB to continue to suffer losses.

According to Joachim,  one of the conditions for tenants to continue residing at RPTA is to avoid accumulating rental arrears.

However, RPTA residents are granted flexibility and still offered housing despite arrears, he said.

He explained that the LPPB PPR houses are designated for low-income groups.

Under the Sabah Low-Cost Housing Policy 2018, applicants must have a salary not exceeding RM3,000.00 and must not own a home, he said. The houses are also not allowed to be leased out by the tenants.

He said tenants are required to maintain the property, but many houses are returned in poor condition.

Irresponsible tenants often allow severe damage, leading to repair costs amounting to thousands of ringgit, far exceeding the deposit, which is only RM240, he added.

He said the tenants were issued the eviction notices on June 12 last year with them requiring to vacate the premises on Aug 12, which was later extended to Sept 30.

-- BERNAMA