Mutiara Damansara introduces subsidised housing, NEW STRAITS TIMES- MANAGEMENT TIMES.

Original Source: Emerging Markets Datafile

AS confirmation that the 335-acre Mutiara Damansara township in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, is not just a place for high-income, affluent housebuyers, developer Mutiara Rini Sdn Bhd last week completed and handed over 288 affordable apartments to buyers of the first phase of its Desa Mutiara project.

Mutiara Rini, a member of Boustead Holdings Bhd, had sold the 660sq ft low- and 764sq ft medium-cost units for RM42,000 and RM72,000 respectively, which were heavily subsidised prices considering the fact that the cost of developing a unit was RM84,000 and RM95,000 respectively.

Boustead's group chairman Tan Sri Mohd Ghazali Che Mat said during the handing-over ceremony: "Profit cannot be a factor for the building of low- and medium-cost housing projects. Nevertheless, no company can function without giving something back to the community in which it operates."

Mutiara Rini had allocated 42 per cent of the 174 low-cost units and 34 per cent of the 114 medium-cost apartments in the first phase for ...