The Housing and Local Government Ministry will table a motion to amend the Housing Development Act at the Dewan Rakyat in December to tackle the issue of abandoned housing projects.

The minister, Datuk Wira Chor Chee Heung, said the amendments include requiring the developer to put a deposit of three per cent of the cost of the project to be developed.

"Developers now only need to put a deposit of RM200,000 and have a piece of land before the license is issued. With this new amendment, if the project is seen to have problems, the deposit will be used to cover costs of the problems," he said.

Chor said the amendments would require developers to complete the houses before selling them.

The requirement, to take effect in 2015, could be complied with in several ways, including by asking buyers to pay 10 per cent of the price of the house and the rest when it is completed, he told reporters after handing over keys to 54 owners of abandoned houses which had been rehabilitated at Taman Prima Hijau here.

With the amendments, Chor said, housing developers can be prosecuted under the Penal Code for failing to complete a project.-Bernama