SINGAPORE, June 5 — Malaysia, as 2025 Asean chair, wants to deepen its collaboration with Asean members to ensure cities in the region are future fit, said Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming.
Nga said this is important due to the persistent heatwave and extreme climate events.
“In the case of Singapore, we are working with the Housing Development Board (HDB) to deliver the Program Residensi Rakyat (PRR) programme.
“I am sure we can work with other countries in the region and globally to green the housing and construction sector,” he told the closing plenary session at the World Cities Summit (WCS) here yesterday.
Nga said Malaysia will continue to invest and innovate in three fundamental areas — housing, planning, and urban health — to deliver the Madani Aspiration in national development.
He said the PRR was proposed earlier this year as a new generation of public housing that is adequate, affordable and well designed to overcome the housing challenge, especially for Malaysian youth.
“PRR not only (aims to) deliver affordable and adequate housing but ensures they are well integrated, sustainable and liveable, with quality commercial viability, green spaces, community centres and other features,” he said, noting that 77 per cent of Malaysians are homeowners.
Nga said the government is pooling talent, financing and services at the national, regional and local levels to face future, extreme climate events, including increased heat islands, flash floods and droughts, which require greater integration in terms of multilevel governance.
He said the upcoming fifth National Physical Plan and the third National Urbanisation Policy will strengthen public and community-level participation in planning and urban development projects.
“We believe in listening and working in partnership with the people we serve,” he said.
Nga said Malaysia has upgraded basic services nationwide, including public toilets and public spaces, and ensuring all Malaysians have access to clean drinking water.
Nga was in Singapore from Sunday to yesterday for the WCS. He held bilateral meetings with Singaporean Sustainability and Environment Minister Grace Fu and National Development Minister Desmond Lee during the trip.
— Bernama
