“PR1MA is a total failure. It is not delivering homes at the right value in the right place. The government is not happy about it, developers are not happy about it, the market is not happy about it." - Daniele Gambero, Italian property consultant at the PropertyGuru's Property Market Outlook 2016
RECKLESS is what PR1MA called Gambero's allegation. Me, I think Mr (Dr?) Gambero takes the title "property guru" too seriously. We Malaysians may love spaghetti and pizza but we also know what's crap, whether it's Italian, French or British. Funnily, those Malaysians who claimed to be allergic towards foreign consultants serving the government are lapping up what this so-called Italian guru is dishing out.
Anyway, I'm glad PR1MA did respond to the Malay Mail Online's story quoting Gambero and several Malaysian property gooroos who were takng potshots at it. I missed their response yesterday until I read it at The Mole h e r e.
Now, can we have someone from the Government of Malaysia respond to Gambero's allegations, please? That bit about "the government is not happy" is so intriguing. I wonder if this was the first time Mr Gambero had spoken on behalf of the Malaysiain Government?
Google search will tell you that The Star newspaper quotes Gambero quite a bit, usuallly describing him as "a marketing and strategic consultant for developers". Developers unhappy with PR1MA's initiative to provide affordable homes to millions of Malaysians.
Shoot the message, not the messenger?
ReplyDeleteAt least one commenter managed to rebuke PR1MA's reply with one simple word: fluff.
ReplyDeleteLatuk,
The issue is one of responsibility.
The need for low-cost housing is completely undeniable. Buying or renting at today's prices is painful. Knowing that, why has PRIMA done almost nothing in 3 years?
PRIMA's defence statement said:
"To date, a total of 232,807 units from 190 projects have been approved for construction by the Members of Corporation (MOC). That is approximately 97 per cent of our 3-year mandate of 240,000 units. Of this 67,435 units are already in various stages of construction and 883 units have been delivered."
TRANSLATION: We've built about 900 houses since 2012.
This is way, way, way below the promised annual rate. By now, the number completed should have been 240,000, by MOF targets.
http://www.focusmalaysia.my/Assets/PR1MA%20under%20fire%20over%20%E2%80%98unrealistic%E2%80%99%20targets
"Some two years after launching the ambitious 1Malaysia Housing Programme (PR1MA), Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia has only 7,336 housing units under construction of the first 80,000 it is to deliver.
According to the Economic Report 2014/2015 released last month by the Ministry of Finance, PR1MA plans to start building 31,469 units only by year-end. That means the agency tasked with implementing the affordable housing programme has already failed as it is supposed to deliver 80,000 homes each year.
By the end of this year, PR1MA is to deliver 160,000 homes and come next year, it should construct 240,000 units using the total of RM2.8 bil allocated by the government.
With the second year of the programme set to end in just over a month, PR1MA has yet to deliver even a single unit. PR1MA has set itself to fail even before it started, say several property observers."
Where has the annual budget allocation since 2012 gone???
After MARA, TH, YAPEIM, CowCondo, MERS, AES and other mega-wastes of public money, is this going to be another "missing money" scandal?
We're getting tired of this, Latuk.
That pink-lipped crook just wants to stay in power.
His macai are useless.
What is ARD doing, apart from playing on Twitter, kissing ass, and telling us to get up early to beat the toll?
Phuiiii....
ReplyDeleteThey transferred money to businesses made to look like Abu Dhabi-owned companies?
You mean, like me starting a company called Petronas LLC in the BVI and have my good friend Tan Sri Hassan Merican channel their monies to this?
Is 1MDB reckless, dumb, or downright criminal?
If WSJ report is untrue, it is high time Najib clears his name.
I find it amusing when figures are tossed around without any research. Screw the Italian connection because there are prominent individuals with better Italian connections lurking close to where the scent of money gets stronger.
ReplyDeleteComing to the point, 883 units were delivered ? Where ? When ? Who ? Come on, don't be a Bengap will ya !
ReplyDeleteNo doubt, Najib is the son of former Prime Minster Tun Razak, who lived a simple life and whose good name has not been tarnished by allegations of corruption or misuse of public and party funds. But having a father’s good name does not mean one gets total immunity.
Come on, US$680 million or nearly RM3 billion by yesterday’s foreign currency exchange rate is not chicken feed. Surely there must be some kind of accounting needed as to where the money has gone to, how much was spent, how much is left, etc.
Now if I was a delegate at the Umno general assembly, I, and I am sure, any other sensible Malaysian who is not a Umno member, would have asked, in fact demanded that the party president provide answers to the questions regarding who received the money and how much and so on.
I would have started off by saying: “Give us the truth; no lying and no beating around the bush.”