The Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is offering a discount of up to 50 per cent in development charges to developers in a bid to accelerate the growth of the construction sector which was hampered due to to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa said developers could submit their application for projects commencing between June 1 this year and May 31, 2021, which would normally take up to three years to complete.

He said it is the ministry’s hope that the initiative would reduce the burden of developers impacted by the pandemic and would enable work on projects that were suspended to resume as soon as possible, thus would stimulate economic growth and create job opportunities for the people.

“The ministry also agrees with DBKL’s effort to reduce the processing time for approval of applications for Development Order, Development Plan and Engineering Plan.

“This will make DBKL’s services more efficient, as well as reduce the holding cost for developers,” he said during an engagement session with developers today.

Annuar said DBKL had so far approved applications for 36 development projects, valued at RM35.9 billion.

He also called on developers to hire young graduates to help reduce the unemployment rate and organise corporate social responsibility programmes.

- Bernama