Putrajaya ropes in Japanese firm for affordable factory-made homes
By Syed Jaymal Zahiid | The Malay Mail Online | October 17, 2013 UPDATED: October 17, 2013 05:19 pm
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia...ory-made-homes#

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 17 — Malaysians may soon be able to buy houses manufactured out of a “home factory”, after Putrajaya today announced a joint-partnership with advanced Japanese homemaker Sekisui Chemical Co. Ltd for a possible pre-fabricated modular house plant here.


A modular home built by Sekisui Chemical is pictured in this undated promotional image. — Picture from SekisuiChemical.com

Describing it as “easy as building a car”, Datuk Jamaluddin Jarjis, the chairman of Putrajaya’s affordable housing agency PR1MA, said the partnership could help the Barisan Nasional (BN) government deliver its election promise to build 500,000 affordable houses in five years as the technology could cut home construction “from two years to two months”.

“The prime minister had pledged to build 500,000 affordable homes and if we keep using the conventional system, it is impossible to reach the five-year target.

“Now we are looking at a new high-tech system of industrialised homes. Like building cars, houses are also built in a factory and only 10 per cent of the house constructions will be built on site,” Jamaluddin told reporters after witnessing the signing of MoU between Sekisui and PR1MA.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was also present at the event.

Modular buildings and modular homes are sectional prefabricated buildings, or houses consisting of multiple sections called modules.

“Modular” is a construction method that differs from the conventional approach of “stick-built” or other methods such as off-site construction.

The modules are six-sided boxes constructed in a plant, then delivered to the housing site using a crane and set onto the building’s foundation and joined together to make a single residential, or commercial, building.

Sekisui, a Japanese-based manufacturing company with a world-wide presence through companies specialising in advanced construction, is the leading provider of residential housing in Japan with sales surpassing 10,000 units annually.

Jamaluddin revealed that Putrajaya had yet to determine the price range of the modular homes but pledged that it would be affordable.

“It depends on the volume. If it’s just 1,000 to 2,000 then cannot lah. But if we are looking at half a million then yes…the cost must be affordable,” he said.

The project will also be limited to the manufacturing of single-story homes at the moment but the PR1MA chief said Putrajaya is also looking into constructing double-story houses by roping in modular homebuilders from other countries.

The joint venture is expected to create high-skilled employment opportunities for Malaysians, added Jamaluddin, saying this was in line with Putrajaya’s plan to transform Malaysia into a high-income nation by 2020.

“From working on site with cheap labour, now they work in factories with high-tech equipment,” he said.

The project will also create a network of vendors for modular homes, which would give Malaysians access to business opportunities as well as technological transfer.

Younger Malaysians, including professionals, are finding it increasingly difficult to buy homes as property prices have skyrocketed through the years due to speculative buying.

This has made affordable housing a critical issue among the country’s younger voters and became one of the key electoral pledges made by the Najib government in the run-up to the May 5 general election.

Congrats to all who managed to get it.

Coming soon...

Taken just now:

Owners' thread...