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KPKT: Housing Plans Without Disable-Friendly Facilities Will Not Be Approved

The Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) will not approve housing and development plans that do not include amenities for people with disabilities (PwD).

This comes as the ministry is responsible for ensuring that developers abide with the housing construction industry standards and with the provisions under the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 (Act 685), said Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Ismail Abd Muttalib.

“The local authorities must look into the details of the PwD’s needs and ensure that approvals are not given if the housing plans do not fulfil the requirements,” he said at the Dewan Negara.

“We have a clear set of rules, and will enforce them if developers fail to fulfil the conditions,” he added as quoted by Bernama.

He made the statement in response to Ras Adiba Radzi’s question on the action taken against developers who do not comply with the specifications on the accessibility features for disabled individuals.

On home ownership issue among the disabled community, Ismail explained that it is the responsibility of the ministry to ensure that liveable housing is available to all groups, including disabled individuals, reported Bernama.

He noted that the Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board has outlined the Universal Design in the 2019 national housing standards as a guide for the design of buildings as well as support facilities component, in consideration of children, the elderly, and disabled groups.

For PwDs, the standards cover disabled-friendly walkways, parking lots, toilets, elevators and access to plugs or switches, said Ismail.

“The ministry ensures that no group, including the disabled, is left behind when it comes to housing. It has been set that 1% of the total People’s Housing Programme (PPR) units is allocated to the disabled in the B40 group,” he shared.

“As of 31 August 2021, there are 154 PPR projects providing 97,196 housing units nationwide and of the total, 936 units have been allocated for the disabled and 809 units (86.4%) are already occupied.”

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