In a statement, the ministry said the figure cited by minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican was derived from several lists on its website, while the one questioned by the National House Buyers Association (HBA) was based on another list.

Earlier today, the HBA said Reezal had told the Dewan Rakyat that 79 private housing projects were abandoned as at Sept 30 and that they involved more than 17,000 units and 11,000 buyers.

However, the association noted that the ministry’s website lists 198 abandoned private housing projects, leading the HBA to question if the figures had been “played down”.

The ministry explained that there were four documents uploaded on its website under the heading “Abandoned Housing Projects” namely:

I. Blacklist of Developers of Abandoned Private Housing Projects
II. List of Projects under Planning for Rehabilitation
III. List of Projects under Rehabilitation
IV. List of Projects under Static Project Category

It said that the 79 abandoned housing projects which Reezal had mentioned were obtained from lists two to four.

The 198 figure which HBA had questioned, meanwhile, was from the first list.

“The confusion over the discrepancy of the number of abandoned housing projects had been clarified in a meeting on Oct 5  which was attended by a HBA representative.”

However, the ministry said it would update the website to ensure clarity.