PETALING JAYA: Low cost houses for squatters in Selangor will cost more from next year when the state government ends its subsidy of about RM7,000 per unit.

Announcing this, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo said the houses would be sold at RM42,000 per unit instead of the RM35,000 offered by the state government now.

He added that the state on an average spent about RM180mil a year on low-cost housing subsidy.

After handing over keys to owners of the Impian Baiduri low-cost apartment here yesterday, he said: ''I urge squatters to co-operate with the authorities and immediately move to the houses provided.''

Dr Khir also advised squatters not to indiscriminately sell these houses but instead to keep the property within the family.

''Don't sell the houses even though a high price is offered,'' he said.

About 1,300 squatter families were given keys to their Impian Baiduri apartment yesterday.

Fourteen developers also received strata titles from Dr Khir.

Dr Khir estimated that at least 90% of the 46,994 squatter families in the state would move to low-cost houses by December in line with the state government's ''zero-squatter'' target by 2006.

He also instructed the Selangor Religious Affairs Department and local authorities to buy low-cost houses and turn them into ''council homes'' to house squatter families who could not afford to own low-cost houses.

''I think we can provide about 5,000 to 6,000 council homes by buying the completed houses,'' he said.

According to the squatter growth data compiled by the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council, there were 15,000 squatter families as of February this year, with 9,000 families or 60% of them relocated to low-cost houses, while the rest would move in July.

Based on the same data, 2,000 non-citizen squatter families would be moved to council homes by June pending completion of the low-cost houses.

Their squatter colonies were demolished during Ops Helang in 2002.

Source : The Star  4/3/2005