JOHOR BARU, Sept 5 — Putrajaya said it is rebranding of the Program Perumahan Rakyat (People’s Housing Programme, PPR) to Program Residensi Rakyat (People’s Residential Programme, PRR) to reflect on the quality and sustainability of the public housing scheme.

Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming said the Cabinet approved the name change yesterday, which also included the upgrade of the current PPR to be PRR.

"The ministry is committed to providing 500,000 units of affordable quality homes to all Malaysians. The upgraded PRR will offer a better quality housing that is well-integrated, sustainable and liveable.

"In addition, the new scheme will also include elements of commercial viability and green spaces as part of its features,” Nga told reporters after attending a state-level Housing and Local Government Ministry programme at Residensi Pelangi Indah here.

Nga explained that the rebranding was carried out based on feedback from a comparative study undertaken by the ministry, where public housing projects from other countries were used as examples.

"We did not only look at Singapore’s Housing Development Board (HDB) public housing projects, but also those from countries such as Australia, South Korea and also Japan.

"With the PRR, the ministry hopes to introduce a new public housing scheme that not only focuses on quality but also towards affordability,” he said.

Nga, who is also the Teluk Intan MP, said the inaugural PRR will most likely be in Larkin here before expanding to other states nationwide.

"In addition, the ministry has allocated close to RM1 billion for this year to build more affordable homes,” he said.

Nga said the government hopes for all Malaysians to be able to own a house of their own.

He said this is in-line with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s call to provide high quality and affordable homes for the people.