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Selangor low-cost houses to cost more

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PETALING JAYA: Low-cost houses for squatters in Selangor will cost more from next year when the state government ends its subsidy of about RM7,000 per unit.

Announcing this, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo said the houses would be sold at RM42,000 per unit instead of the RM35,000 offered by the state government now.

He added that the state on an average spent about RM180mil a year on low-cost housing subsidy.

After handing over keys to owners of the Impian Baiduri low-cost apartment here yesterday, he said: ''I urge squatters to co-operate with the authorities and immediately move to the houses provided.''

Dr Khir also advised squatters not to indiscriminately sell these houses but instead to keep the property within the family.

''Don't sell the houses even though a high price is offered,'' he said.

About 1,300 squatter families were given keys to their Impian Baiduri apartment yesterday.

Fourteen developers also received strata titles from Dr Khir.

Dr Khir estimated that at least 90% of the 46,994 squatter families in the state would move to low-cost houses by December in line with the state government's ''zero-squatter'' target by 2006.

He also instructed the Selangor Religious Affairs Department and local authorities to buy low-cost houses and turn them into ''council homes'' to house squatter families who could not afford to own low-cost houses.

''I think we can provide about 5,000 to 6,000 council homes by buying the completed houses,'' he said.

According to the squatter growth data compiled by the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council, there were 15,000 squatter families as of February this year, with 9,000 families or 60% of them relocated to low-cost houses, while the rest would move in July.

Based on the same data, 2,000 non-citizen squatter families would be moved to council homes by June pending completion of the low-cost houses.

Their squatter colonies were demolished during Ops Helang in 2002. –Bernama

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dear all,

have some news to share which will maybe affect your buying house and other things decisions......

Sunday October 16, 2005 (Star)

Quake and tsunami predicted

BANGKOK: Thailand’s now iconic meteorologist, Dr Smith Dharmasaroja, who in 1998 predicted a killer tsunami would hit Thailand one day and was ignored, said Singapore and Malaysia were also in danger from a future earthquake and tsunami.

“I believe the epicentre of future quakes will shift northwards, north of the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

“A big earthquake with a more northerly epicentre than the Dec 26 quake will generate a tsunami which will have a more direct route down to the Straits of Malacca, swamping Singapore and Malaysia.

“As the sea passage narrows, more water will build up and the wave will become bigger.

“Singapore is relatively low-lying and quite flat, and would be badly affected. Remember, in December, the tsunami was 30m high at Banda Aceh. At Khao Lak, it was 16m high,” he said.

Dr Smith, 70, retired as chief of Thailand’s Meteorological Department well before last December’s disaster.

But before that, he had warned first in a speech and then in a memo that Thailand’s Andaman coast was at risk from a killer tsunami.

Tragically his warning, although widely reported by the media, was ignored.

Government officials, fearful of tourists staying away, branded him a cranky and dangerous man.

The authorities in Phuket castigated him and said he was not welcome to visit.

After the tsunami, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra recalled him and made him chairman of a committee tasked with developing a national disaster warning centre and strategy.

“I’m not happy that I made the right prediction,” he said.

“Nobody can accurately predict an earthquake; you can only assume from historical data,” he added.

He said big natural disasters occur in 80- to 100-year cycles, apparently randomly across the world.

“If you speak out too much, forecast too much, you will get a lot of criticism, from government agencies, the tourism sector and so forth,'' he added.

Explaining the northward shift of future epicentres, Dr Smith stressed: “This is no joke. I would like you to put this message out to Singapore and Malaysia.”

A researcher working on the hypothesis, who did not want to be named, said the research was ongoing and final results were not yet ready.

Dr Smith said: “I have seen the simulations that indicate this and they look believable. From my own experience, it is possible.

“Only a few days ago, there was a 6.1 quake in the Andaman sea near the Nicobar islands, which is about 321.8km north of the Dec 26 quake. So, this is an indication that the epicentre is moving north.” – The Straits Times/Asia News Network

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