RESIDENTS of new villages should take up a government loan to improve their village houses so that they can enjoy a more conducive living environment.

Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung said the loan, via Bank Simpanan Nasional, only charged 4% monthly interest rate.

Interest would only be charged for the balance of the loan, meaning that the overall interest would not be more than 3%, he added.

Checking it out: Chor (second from left) with the villagers during his visit to Kampung Baru Station.

Chor said the borrowers must be owners of the village house, adding that they only need to produce their identity card for the application, and that there was no other charges for the loan.

He said the loan for upgrading of houses was among three types of loan under a RM50mil allocation from the federal government last year and this year.

“Of the RM14mil loan approved since last June, only RM2mil is for the upgrading of houses,” he said, adding that the balance of RM14mil were loaned to villagers for them to either pay the premium to extend the lease of the land for their house or to set up small businesses.

On villagers, especially the elderly, who might not have the ability to repay their loan taken to upgrade their house, Chor advised their children to help settle it.

“From my observation during my visit to new villages, many of the houses are quite big.

“But these houses are old and need upgrading,” he said after visiting Kampung Baru Bidor Station, about 70 km from Ipoh yesterday.

Chor who visited two other nearby villages earlier — Kampung Baru Bidor and Kampung Baru Sungei Bikam — said he was satisfied with the upgrading of the infrastructure in the villages.

“We (government) will ensure there is enough allocation to constantly upgrade the facilities in all the villages.

“Our aim is to eventually raise the living conditions of the villages to be at par with that of towns and even cities,” he said.

-The Star-