In a written reply, housing and local government minister Nga Kor Ming said as of Sept 30, these housing projects involved some 1,901 homes which were valued at RM574.79 million.

He said these projects were restored or completed under the purview of the task force on sick, delayed and abandoned private housing projects which was set up in 2022.

“This achievement shows the effectiveness in implementing an existing policy.

“And the ministry will continue to improve (on this policy) to achieve zero sick housing projects by 2030.”

Nga said this in response to Abdul Khalib Abdullah (PN-Rompin) who wanted to know if existing policies and laws were able to deal with abandoned housing projects.

He also said that housing projects that were considered abandoned were those that were not completed within the time frame stipulated in the sale and purchase agreement and where no construction work was carried out for six consecutive months.

Housing projects are also deemed abandoned if confirmed by the minister as stipulated under the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 or Act 118.

Nga went on to say that the ministry was in the midst of fine-tuning Act 118 as a long-term measure to avoid housing projects from becoming “sick” and later abandoned.

Among the amendments include blacklisting developers and the board of directors to prevent them from leaving the country, he said.