ISKANDAR PUTERI: The state government has no direct authority to determine and control the prices of properties in Johor, said Housing and Local Government committee chairman Datuk Md Jais Sarday.

That was why the state government introduced the Johor Affordable Housing Scheme (RMMJ) to fine-tune the state housing policy, he added.

He said under the policy, for each property development project on an area of 2.023ha and above, 40% of the properties developed on the site should comprise low- and medium-cost and RMMJ houses.

Johor has three types of public housing schemes — the 750 sq ft Perumahan Komuniti Johor (PKJ) Type A house priced at RM42,000, the 850 sq ft Type B house with the RM80,000 price tag and the 1,000 sq ft RMMJ house priced at RM150,000.

“Johor is one of the states in the country which has development regulations and requirements for developers to build affordable houses,” he said.

Md Jais was responding to questions from Hamimah Mansor (BN-Penawar) on measures taken by the state government to control the prices of houses in view of the high cost of living.

He said under the RMMJ scheme, the state government wanted more Johoreans, especially the low-income earners to be able to own houses.

Md Jais said the state also imposed a 10-year moratorium restricting owners of the RMMJ houses priced at RM150,000 from selling their houses in the secondary market.

“They can only sell their houses 10 years after the date of purchase and upon receiving approval from the state,’’ he said.

On a suggestion made by Yeo Tung Siong (DAP-Jementah) to the state government to introduce a hire purchase scheme to assist Johoreans in owning houses, Md Jais said RM20mil had been allocated under the State Budget 2017 for the scheme.