KUCHING: Sarawak Housing Development Corporation (HDC) plans to ‘flood’ the market with affordable houses costing below RM250,000 each so that those entangled in the so-called ‘house-purchasing trap’ can finally have a home they can call their own.

HDC chairman Datuk Dr Abang Abdul Rauf Abang Zen said this would be possible with the signing of Head of Agreement (HoA) between a Sarawak-based company Green Modular R & R Bhd (Smart Holding) and Foshan Conceiving Board-Manufacturing Co. Ltd (CBM) in Guangzhou, China on March 23. Smart Holding is a subsidiary of HDC.

The HoA will enable the setting up of a modular housing factory in Demak Laut to fabricate the affordable houses and which will be strategic enough to become a hub to export these houses to neighbouring countries in future.

“The whole idea is to produce affordable houses for those with combined household income of RM8,000 to RM10,000 who are currently unable to buy houses due to bank commitments. So if we can ‘flood’ the market with affordable houses, then our people who are currently in difficulty due to the so-called ‘house-purchasing trap’ will be able to finally buy houses,” Abang Abdul Rauf told The Borneo Post yesterday.

He pointed out that with modular housing, the price of affordable houses could be stabilised or even be reduced by 15 to 20 per cent.

He was glad that the state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg was finally able to convince the China-based company to come to Sarawak, saying HDC knew that the chief minister was serious in his efforts to address the shortage of affordable houses.

“The HoA is a manifestation of the three-year courtship with CBM. And CBM knows that Sarawak is a strategic hub which it could also use to export houses to the neighbouring country whenever there is demand in future,” he pointed out.

He said a piece of land at Demak Laut has been identified as the site of the factory and if things go as planned, the factory can even start to roll out its first product by next year.

On a related subject, Abang Abdul Rauf disclosed that the state government planned to build 50,000 units of affordable apartments or houses under the current 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020).

“With the signing of the HoA, we hope that it will be able to stabilise the cost of affordable and low cost houses in the state and to realise the plan of the state government to build 50,000 units of affordable apartments or houses under the current 11th Malaysia Plan,” he said.

He added that the HoA will enable CBM to transfer its technology to build modular housing to Sarawak to ensure that the prices of affordable and low cost houses are stable.

“The HoA is a historic event for the housing industry in Sarawak as it is the culmination of Datuk Amar Abang Johari’s efforts who had made a similar trip to CBM in June 2014 to explore and source for cost-effective construction methods and materials in the development of affordable housing projects and to learn from China’s success in development of its affordable housing,” he elaborated.

Abang Abdul Rauf said the joint-venture (JV) project would allow the supply of technology and resources for the manufacturing of modular housing in the state.

“The JV would also provide the necessary training to enable the plant workers to undertake the manufacturing process of modular housing,” he added.

The HoA was signed by Abang Abdul Rauf on behalf of Smart Holding and chairman and chief executive officer of CBM, Chen Yao Ran.