The soft loan provided to new villagers, which has an initial fund of RM100 million, is not solely to help them pay their land premium and renew leasehold but also a form of micro financing to help them venture into business, Housing and Local Government Minister Chor Chee Heung said.

He said the Finance Ministry was currently working out the details of the loan with Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN).

"We don't know yet whether it will be a truly unsecured loan or otherwise. The details are being work out. By the end of this year, those interested can start to apply," he told Bernama in an interview.

mca new cabinet member 180308 chor chee heung He explained that the government decided to extend the use of the RM100 million soft loan for other purposes, such as for business, because many of the new villagers had already renewed their leasehold.

There are 450 new villages nationwide, most of them on a 60-year leasehold.

Prime Minister Najib Razak, when tabling the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) in June, revealed that the government would provide a soft loan with an initial fund of RM100 million to assist the villagers to pay their land premium and renew their leasehold.

Chor said apart from the RM100 million, the government also provided an annual development fund for upgrading of roads, drainage and other infrastructure development in new villages.

He believed that the extension of the 60-year leasehold would go a long way in pushing up the value of new village land.

Give MCA credit for bringing development

Chor said that besides the government, the MCA should be credited for bringing development to new villages because "we played a big role since the establishment of new villages in 1948."

In fact, he said, since 1999, the government brought development to fishing villages known as "kampung bagan" and villages that were connected with one another, known as "kampung rangkaian".

"There are 113 kampung bagan and 44 kampung rangkaian. They have been brought to the mainstream development to ensure orderly planning and development," he said.

He added that the ministry was tasked with monitoring all the kampung bagan, kampung rangkaian and 450 new villages.

"Since 2009, adequate development projects have been given to these new villages," he said.

- Bernama