SHAH ALAM, Aug 11 — The state government has been urged to shift its focus from providing “affordable housing” to creating “affordable living” to make the state more liveable for young people and essential workers.
Lembah Jaya state assemblyman Syed Ahmad Syed Abdul Rahman Alhadad, popularly known as Altimet, said this is particularly important in densely developed urban areas where land for new housing is increasingly limited.
“As a representative of a densely developed urban area such as Lembah Jaya, I have to ask where these (affordable) homes will be built and who can truly afford to live in them,” he said when debating the Selangor Selangor Plan (RS-2) during the Selangor State Legislative Assembly sitting today.
Syed Ahmad noted that as of May 31 last year, there was no specific plan for a Rumah Selangorku II project in Lembah Jaya, despite 11 projects involving about 2,400 units being in the pipeline across the wider Ampang area.
"Selangor can no longer rely solely on finding vacant land to build new homes. (There needs to be a) greater emphasis on urban redevelopment and a stronger role for PKNS (Selangor State Development Corporation) in providing affordable housing.
“We need to change the narrative from simply ‘affordable housing’ to ‘affordable living’.”
RS-2, which is Selangor’s five-year development plan, was tabled by Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari on Friday (August 7), outlining the state’s economic, social, infrastructure, and sustainability priorities for the 2026-2030 period.
Meanwhile, Syed Ahmad called for a long-term solution to the flooding issues along Sungai Ampang, particularly in Kampung Pinggir 3, Kampung Bukit Sungai Puteh, and Kampung Muhibbah.
"The RM100,000 JPS (Irrigation and Drainage Department) allocation for Sungai Ampang should only be a starting point,” he said, urging the state government and JPS to strengthen flood mitigation through better risk identification, planning, and prevention.
On the creative economy, the former singer turned Pakatan Harapan lawmaker welcomed plans to make it a strategic sector by 2030 and supported the 15 per cent entertainment duty rebate as an economic catalyst.
