KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 — The Ministry of Local Government Development (KPKT) is spending RM90.4 million for the maintenance and repairs of 850 low and medium private and public strata housing throughout the country except Kuala Lumpur.

Its deputy minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said the expenditure encompasses RM44.4 million Malaysian Housing Maintenance Fund (TPPM) for private housing and RM46 million for public housing projects (PPP).

He said all allocation had been channelled by the ministry through the state government secretariats, state housing boards and local authorities.

"Among the work scope conducted included repairing and replacing lifts, changing water tanks and sanitary pipes, rewriting electric cables, roof repairs, building repainting and replacing public infrastructure which involved joint assets

"All works were carried out for the safety and comfort of residents,” he said during the question and answer time at Dewan Rakyat today.

He was replying to a question by Datuk Ramanan Ramakrishnan (PH-Sungai Buloh) on planning and allocations to upgrade and brighten up low-cost apartments such as repainting buildings, changing roofs, replacing electrical wiring and paving roads.

Meanwhile, Akmal Nasrullah said the Madani government has agreed to increase the allocation of TPPM and PPP to RM104 million next year, a 10 percent increase from the allocation received this year.

"The process for the distribution of allocations is the same, we will filter and look at each application to get funds from TPPM and PPP according to the seriousness and needs of each housing,” he said.

Commenting further, Akmal Nasrullah said that each project carried out may have a different completion period according to the type of repair.

"For lifts, for example, the replacement process alone can sometimes take up to 18 months since it is necessary to wait for the necessary tools, but projects such as repainting the building and electrical wiring may only take around three to six months,” he said. — Bernama