'No response yet on Penang PPR'

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government has yet to receive a response from the federal government for an application to have more People's Housing Project (PPR) to be built in the state.
Penang Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said a letter dated April 20 on the matter was sent to the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry.
"A 14.674ha plot in Jelutong was proposed as a site for the PPR project which can accommodate 3,000 units.
"But there has been no response so far," he said yesterday in response to issues raised in the Auditor-General's Report that was released on Monday.
On the issue of allocating PPR units, Jagdeep said there are four PPR sites in Penang with a total of 2,370 units, 320 of which are unoccupied.
Desa Wawasan PPR, which is one of the projects, has 251 unoccupied units as many applicants do not want to be placed there. One reason they cited was that the place was far from their place of work or schools.
"As such, we cannot force them to choose Desa Wawasan," he said.