Decade-long wait ends for buyers of abandoned Simpang Renggam housing project
JOHOR BAHRU: After more than a decade of waiting, buyers of the abandoned housing project in Taman Permata Layang, Simpang Renggam, Johor, have finally received their Eligibility Certificate for Home Ownership (SLMR).
Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi said he had the honour of personally handing over the certificates to the buyers of the project, which comprises 47 units of affordable homes priced from RM42,000 each.
'This project is especially close to my heart as it is located in my own constituency of Simpang Renggam, and I have been championing it since I first became an elected representative.
'Resolving the issue was no easy task — it required on-the-ground efforts, careful planning, and close collaboration between various agencies,' he shared in a Facebook post today.
Onn Hafiz expressed hope that this achievement would serve as a stepping stone towards resolving other abandoned housing projects across Johor.
He added that the state government remains committed to addressing sick and abandoned projects to prevent similar issues in the future.
He also thanked Johor Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor, the Johor Housing Development Corporation (PKPJ), the South East Johor Development Authority (KEJORA), the Kluang District Office, and the Simpang Renggam District Council for their contributions in making the project a success.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Millions of M'sian homes uninsured and vulnerable
PETALING JAYA: Day in, day out, stories appear about fires, flash floods or other catastrophes caused by extreme weather. Yet, few Malaysian homeowners seemed inclined to protect their homes against such calamities. 'More than 50% of Malaysian households remain uninsured against structural damage caused by fire, floods or severe weather conditions,' said the General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM). According to its data, the take-up rate for fire and home insurance policies has remained at around 43% for the past two years. In 2023, only 3.89 million homes were insured out of the 8.88 million households. Last year, of the 9.1 million households, only 3.87 million had a fire and home insurance policy. As climate events grow more unpredictable and property values rise, PIAM said homeowners should reassess their protection strategies for their property and contents. Citing a 2024 climate resilience survey by Zurich Malaysia, PIAM said 54% of Malaysians feel unprepared for potential climate risks, with 38% citing financial constraints as a barrier to being adequately protected. 'Floods (75%), heatwaves (74%) and landslides (70%) are the top worries, while urban infrastructure risks, for example fallen trees and sinkholes, are becoming an emerging concern (67%), following recent incidents in Kuala Lumpur,' it said. PIAM, on its part, is raising awareness of the flood coverage options available for homeowners, citing policies that could be just RM14 a month (or 0.086%) of the sum insured for a RM200,000 property. 'The key advice is to contact your insurance provider or agent to learn more about fire and home insurance policies and how to best protect your home and belongings against potential risks,' it said. However, the association acknowledged that there had been a gradual increase in demand among Malaysians for more comprehensive home insurance plans, particularly those covering flood and climate-related risks. 'In the first half of 2023, the take-up rate for fire insurance policies with flood coverage increased to 33%, up from 31% in 2022,' it added. Some of the preferred coverages include the basic fire coverage, which covers damages from direct burning, heat, smoke, and extinguishing water, which can affect nearby properties. Financial institutions often mandate this for homes with mortgages. Aside from that, householder and house owner policies cover damages that are not only confined to the structure but also to contents and personal liability. 'These policies offer broader protection, particularly valuable given Malaysia's vulnerability to floods and fire,' it said.
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Factories give fresh graduates a stepping stone
GEORGE TOWN: You graduate as an engineer and take your first career step, only to find your gross pay is about RM3,000. Seeking a higher quality of life, you switch to another job or even start a small business. To keep the engineering talent pool intact, 11 local factories in Penang, seven of them publicly listed, are using human resources strategies to ensure engineers' salaries are eye-catching enough. A registered industry and education NGO called the 88 Captains and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) are developing HR management and training systems so that fresh engineering graduates can earn at least RM4,000 a month, while diploma-level personnel can get at least RM3,000. Called the Apprenticeship, Internship, Reskilling and Upskilling (Airu) talents programme, it recently started in Penang and begins even when the engineers are still undergraduates. 'Airu is done through assessment of degree students starting from apprenticeships and their requisite internships. 'There's no reason not to give them premium salaries after they graduate because they are deemed to have been 'home-grown' by those companies even before the students earn their bachelor's degrees,' said 88 Captains chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ooi Eng Hock. A check on recent online job advertisements shows that junior electrical engineers start at as low as RM2,500 a month. Offers for fresh mechanical engineering graduates tend to be higher, at about RM3,800 a month, and for most other fields, the starting pay of engineers tends to be a little over RM3,000. Under Airu's apprenticeships and internships, Ooi said local factories guide the undergraduates so that they would be uniquely suited for the companies after completing their studies. The students can then assimilate with the companies' work culture, specific machinery and operating systems, and thus, from the perspective of those factories, they will not be 'fresh graduates'. As for those with technical and vocational education and training (TVET) diplomas, Ooi said Airu would allow them to skip the degree route and sign up for a master programme being developed by USM. 'The master programme is about reskilling and upskilling those who have started working after earning TVET diplomas, and should be finalised by the last quarter. 'It is now being brainstormed in USM with all relevant stakeholders,' Ooi added. He said eligibility to join Airu's master programme will consider factors such as the amount of work experience of diploma holders, and it is not meant to compete with degree programmes of tertiary institutions. He said a starting pay of RM4,000 was also the target of the Higher Education Ministry's Research and Industry-Infused Incubator, led by the Malaysian Electrical and Electronics Consortium comprising 19 public universities headed by USM. 'For TVET diploma holders, the minimum pay of RM3,000 is as per the government's goal,' he said. Key companies that are part of Airu include Vitrox Corporation, UWC, Hotayi Electronics, Swift Bridge Technologies, M Summit Group, MyCO2 Group, ASP Medical Group, Solarvest, Sky Resources Group, YBS International and Chung Chambers, Advocates & Associates. Launched simultaneously with Airu last week was the Intangible Asset Commercialisation & Strategy Association, a grouping meant to empower youths not only in innovation but also in protecting, valuing and commercialising their ideas. Ooi believes that collectively, all these initiatives will help the country retain local talent rather than lose them to other countries. 'We need to start small by encouraging local talent developed in Penang and the northern region to remain here,' he said. Present at Airu's launch were Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and USM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Seri Dr Abdul Rahman Mohamed.
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Engineering losing lustre due to negative perception
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia may see massive shortages of engineers for all fields in the coming years if no concrete steps are taken to address the unfavourable perception of engineering jobs, warns industry stakeholders. Institution of Engineers Malaysia president Prof Dr Jeffrey Chiang Choong Luin said the negative perception of engineering jobs has begun to take a toll on youth interest in related fields. He said this, combined with tumbling interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects in schools, have resulted in a noticeably lower enrolment of new students in engineering courses this year. 'It has become a widespread perception among a lot of the youth that engineers are paid low salaries compared to those in business, banking, finance, marketing, law and economics. 'Another long-perceived view is that engineers work with their hands in dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs, which are undesirable for the younger generation. 'This perception has resulted in me observing low enrolment in mechanical, mechatronics, chemical and even civil engineering disciplines for this year so far compared to previous years,' he said when contacted. In June last year, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang said Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia students taking science and mathematics subjects had declined over the last six years, with subjects like Additional Mathematics seeing a decline of 17.37% in student registration from 2018 to 2023. In two separate written parliamentary replies, the Education Ministry revealed that the number of students enrolled for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) streams dropped from 47% in 2020 to 40.94% in 2022, though the figures rebounded to 45.73% in 2023 and 50.83% in 2024. Chiang said this decrease could see a massive drop of graduate engineers in these fields in the next five to six years, resulting in a shortfall of between 25% and 50% in engineers for all fields across the country. To help address this, he called on the government to consider raising remunerations for technical staff in the civil service, which would help dispel salary concerns plaguing the profession. 'They should also widely advertise the ample opportunities for career advancement in the civil service, especially for technocrats to serve in the upper echelons of government,' he added. Malaysian Association of Engineers president Datuk Feroz Hanif Mohamed Ahmad also expressed similar concerns, noting that the negative perception of engineering jobs has been a result of poor enforcement of the legal minimum wage for skilled engineers. 'I have heard of many smaller companies offering salaries of only RM1,500 to RM2,000 for new engineering graduates, cases of which are then spread by word of mouth or online among youth. 'This ends up discouraging many of them from even considering engineering as a career path, even from a young age, due to this misguided perception of the industry. 'This could potentially create an entire generation of youth that are disinterested with the fields of engineering,' he said, calling on the government to enact stricter minimum wage enforcement on such companies. In this regard, he also called on the government to publicly set a specific minimum wage for engineers to at least RM3,000. 'This can be done by providing incentives for engineering companies to increase their minimum salary, maybe through tax rebates as an example,' he added. Feroz Hanif said there was also a need to increase consultation fees for engineering-related requests through amendments to the Registration Of Engineers Act, which would help open up more employment opportunities for engineers after graduation to become consultants. The two concerns are not unfounded as the latest 2022 annual report by the Board of Engineers Malaysia found the country only had 212,713 registered engineers, which includes technologists. This means the country's engineer-to-population ratio is at a significant low of about one to 163, which pales in comparison to developed countries like Germany, where the ratio is at one to 100.
