Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim has rolled out good news for owners of unoccupied shoplots in two housing areas in Hulu Selangor, but denied this is a by-election sweetener.

NONE They need not pay the annual assessment charge from May 1, provided they are not earning any income from the property.

"We decided on this considering that many owners of shoplots and business premises in Bukit Beruntong and Bukit Sentosa are not getting returns as their property is unoccupied,” he told a press conference after chairing a state exco meeting in Shah Alam.

Khalid said the owners should submit an application to the relevant local authority to claim the waiver, which will remain in effect until they are able to generate income from their property.

"Our target is not to burden the owners, but this will only cover assessment (due) from May 1, not before that," he noted.

The assessment charge, which is based on the annual rentable value of a property, is collected in two payments, over each half-year.

The issue has been a sticking point for buyers since 2000, and is understood to involve some 5,000 units.

Khalid denied that the announcement is an election ploy, saying that it is part of the state government's services to the people.

"This is a pilot project that we are launching in Hulu Selangor. Depending on how it goes, we expect to expand it to the rest of Selangor after May 1," he said.

State to step in

The state government will complete five abandoned housing projects in the two areas and speed up the issuance of certificates of fitness for some 1,521 houses.

water pipes Iskandar Abdul Samad , the exco in charge of housing, said the state government will also complete construction of access roads and other infrastructure, and bill the developers for this.

He also announced that the state government will implement a pilot project issuing coupons for free water to residents of low-cost apartments, enabling them to use 20 cubic metres of water free of charge every month.

This will be done until the shared water-meters in low-cost apartments are converted to individual water-meters.

Khalid brushed aside claims that the many announcements made by the state government, including the conversion of Temporary Occupancy Licence (TOL) land to leasehold titles, are intended to fish for votes in the by-election.

"We had already decided on this (land conversion) last year. This is our contribution to help increase land ownership in Selangor," he said.

On the state government's progress in converting TOL land to leasehold titles, Khalid said the soonest it can come up with concrete figures is by the end of this year.

"We don't have a clear idea yet on how many titles we will process, but we estimate over 10,000 in Hulu Selangor alone and more than 100,000 in the whole state," he added.