Kedah Govt asked why low cost flats turned into student hostel

Kedah govt asked why low cost flats turned into student hostel

By EMBUN MAJID

 

ALOR SETAR: Kedah Gerakan has taken the state government to task for turning the Flat Seri Impian in Megong Industrial Area here into a hostel for Kolej Universiti Insaniah (KUIN) students.

Since low-cost houses in Kedah were scarce, its party chief Dr Cheah Soon Hai questioned why the state government had turned the low-cost flat into a hostel.

"These low-cost houses were built during the Barisan Nasional era with the intention of helping the low-income earners.

"But when Pakatan Rakyat took over the state, they turned the flat into a hostel for KUIN students,'' he said in a press conference here on Monday.

He said there were more than 25,000 people who had registered with the state government for low-cost houses.

"However, between 2009 until last year, the PAS-led state government has yet to complete any low-cost housing projects for the people,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the state Housing, Industry and Investment, Public Work, Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry and Biotechnology Committee chairman Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah said in a press conference that the students would move out from the flat once the facilities at KUIN campus in Kuala Ketil, Baling had been completed.

He said the state had to use the Seri Impian Flat as a temporary hostel as KUIN did not have enough hostels to accommodate its students.

"It is a temporary move and we hope to move the students to the KUIN campus in Kuala Ketil as early as September,'' he said.

Amiruddin also said the state had three low-cost housing projects in store for the Kota Setar district but the projects were still in the planning stages.

He said the projects were in Kampung Kilat, Seberang Terus and Telok Yan.

"All are in the planning stages so we cannot say when it will take off,'' he said.