THE Federal Territories Ministry is targeting young adults to buy homes in Putrajaya as part of measures to increase the population of the city.

Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said under the ministry’s plan, affordable homes would also be lowered from the current RM300,000 to RM200,000 and below.

 

This is to attract younger buyers earning less than RM4,000 a month under its homeownership concept.

“Younger buyers will be eligible to get a longer loan term of up to 30 years and lower monthly instalments, thus increasing affordability.

 

Annuar said the ministry has prepared Cabinet papers for three affordable housing projects in Putrajaya to be priced in the RM200,000 range.

He also said that the government had initially wanted to increase Putrajaya’s population to 300,000 when it turned 25 years.

This target, however, was not reached as it now had only about 120,000 people.

“From the total population, over 90% are Malays and the majority are civil servants.

“Many people want to live in Putrajaya but because the land value has increased, the house prices have increased too.

“We want to encourage others to buy houses, and not only the civil servants. So, we need to build more truly affordable houses.

If the three housing projects go through, a few thousand houses will be available in the administrative capital,” he said after launching the Al-Quran Al-Karim Mushaf Putrajaya, a Quran printed in Putrajaya.

“As a result of the collaboration between the ministry, Putrajaya Corporation and Yayasan Restu, we have just launched our own Putrajaya Quran, whereby its structural design and motifs are inspired by the architecture, landscape and flora of the city.

“We target to print 25,000 copies of the holy book in various sizes, to be distributed to the mosques and schools in Putrajaya.

“The printing cost will be RM2mil. The ministry will pump in the initial RM1mil and the rest will be contributed by various parties,” he said.

The launch of the holy book, held at Kompleks Percetakan Nasyrul Quran, was in conjunction with Putrajaya’s silver jubilee and the Nuzul Al-Quran celebrations.

Annuar added that a third mosque for Putrajaya has been planned to be set up in Precinct 14.

He added that it was part of a bigger plan to build a Quranic Village, whereby the area surrounding it would be associated with learning and appreciating the science of the Quran.

Kompleks Percetakan Nasyrul Quran in Precinct 14, Putrajaya is the pride of the country for being the biggest Quran research and printing plant outside Saudi Arabia, he added.

“It is the second largest in the world after the King Fahad Quran Printing Complex in Saudi Arabia,” he said, adding that Putrajaya received many tourists and could optimise the unique attraction.