The Malaysian Ministry of Housing and Local Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with 8 Chinese companies for potential future foreign direct investment and technology knowledge transfer concerning pre-fabrication construction technology. The MOU was signed during the second Belt and Road summit in Beijing in May 2019.
The MOU is also anticipated to ease financing difficulties for homebuyers as some of the Chinese companies had expressed their desire to offer funding or loans to people buying a home under the Rent-To-Own scheme.
The eight companies are comprised of 6 financial institutions and 2 construction companies which will be required to work with local companies. The Chinese companies are expected to bring in technology, innovation and investment in Industrialized Building System (IBS) technology to propel development of affordable housing.
According to the KPKT minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, Malaysia has only 11 local companies involved in IBS construction using IBS, with the capacity to build 19,000 units annually. Technology from the Chinese companies along with investment in IBS factories to manufacture pre-fabricated building materials is expected to help meet the ministry’s target of building one million units in 10 years.
An academy will be set up to train locals on IBS building techniques. The price of the affordable homes will be capped at below MYR 300,000 (USD 72,237.50) with price variations along locality, town and state. KPKT expects to complete 37,570 affordable homes by this year.
(Sources: Edge Prop; The Star)
