THE housing woes of the 23 squatter families in Ladang Sungai Kechil in Sungai Bakap Penang is on the verge of being solved as a by- election looms.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow visited the families here to resolve their housing issue.

“The state will allocate RM5.13 million for the purpose of acquiring the land of six acres under Section 4 and Section 8 of the Land Acquisition Act 1960.”

Chow explained that the case dragged because the landowner refused the initial compensation quantum of RM5 million and brought the matter to court.

The court decided in 2022 that the state must pay part of the claims of RM625,651.07 to raise the entire compensation sum to be RM5.13 million.

“The payment was fully settled to the landowner in April, so work can begin to build homes for the affected 23 families,” said Chow after visiting the squatters.

The families are direct descendants of the original estate workers at Sungai Kechil.

They were first told to vacate their houses in 2016 after the landowner had earmarked the area for a commercial redevelopment.

The Penang exco in charge of housing, Datuk Seri S. Sundarajoo said that the state will develop an affordable housing scheme on the land that it had acquired.
 
Part of the units to be built, will be channelled to the 23 families while the others would be made available to other deserving recipients, he said. – June 15, 2024.