KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 — The Federal Territories Ministry has given assurance that the rental rates for council home units in Kuala Lumpur will be below market rates.

Minister Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said this was part of efforts to help city dwellers to save money to buy their own houses in the future and also to enable council home to become a profitable asset for the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

“Council home will give the opportunity to low-income city dwellers to live in a comfortable home measuring 800 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

“The rent must be half or below the current market rate. If the market rate is now between RM1,500 and RM2,000, then they (council home tenants) will probably need to pay only RM700,” he told a press conference after the groundbreaking ceremony of the Bandar Tun Razak Council Home project in Cheras here today.

Shahidan said the DBKL had also targeted to build 5,000 units of Council Home this year, with four projects currently ongoing namely the ones in Sungai Udang, Segambut; Bandar Tun Razak; Bandar Baru Sentul and Taman Desa Seputeh.

Two other projects in the pipeline are in Bandar Sri Permaisuri and Sungai Besi, he said.

The Bandar Tun Razak Council Home project is being implemented on DBKL-owned land at a cost of RM200 million and will have 702 units of houses, as well as a supermarket, wet market and a multi-purpose hall. — Bernama