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Government Requirements
Seminar On Public Housing
Planning Guidelines for low-cost housing in Sarawak

The Sarawak Housing and Development Commission organized a Seminar on Public Housing in Miri from 18 to 20 June,
2002.
We publish below the paper given at the Seminar by the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Planning and Resource
Management, Datu Haji Hamzah Haji Drahman on "Planning and Guidelines of Low-cost Housing in Sarawak".
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 This paper will only deal with the planning guidelines which are now adopted by the State Planning Authority to regulate
the development of low-cost housing in the State. These planning guidelines include policy regulations and development
control standards which are used to consider and approve applications for low-cost housing development by Government
Agencies such as the Housing and Development Commission and the Bintulu Development Authority or by the private
developers. For your information, these planning guidelines have been in use since October 1996.
2.0 BACKGROUND
2.1 These planning guidelines were first formulated in 1996 and have been modified in 1999 pursuance to the policy
context of the government being the major provider of low-cost houses through the Housing and Development
Commission and the Bintulu Development Authority. The private sector has only been required to build a small percentage
of the low-cost houses to complement the government's own projects.
2.2 Low-cost housing programme is now seen as amongst the very important elements in urban planning policies,
particularly in solving squatter problems in the urban areas. The number of low-cost houses must not only be adequate to
meet the needs of the squatter population but also must be built at the right localities, be affordable to them and the
selection process/entitlement to buy low-cost houses must be made as easy as possible.
The Housing and Development Commission and the Land and Survey Department should together ensure that squatters
are given every opportunity to buy or rent low-cost houses. The State Government has now discontinued providing vacant
housing land under the "site and service" resettlement scheme since there is no more state land available for the purpose
in the urban areas.
2.3 It must also be noted that the present planning guidelines have been formulated with the direct involvement of the
Housing and Development Commission as it is the main government agency to implement and to build low-cost houses
in the State.
3.0 POLICY GUIDELINES FOR PRIVATE DEVELOPERS
3.1 In 1999, the State Government decided to impose the requirement that private developers be required to build a certain
percentage of their housing development of over 10 acres in size for low-cost houses. This requirement is considered a
social contribution by the private sector to complement the Government's own development of low-cost houses. The
requirement is based generally on the size of the land under development, the total number or type of houses to be built
thereon and, on the locality of the subject land.
3.2 However, if the land under development is located in an area where the price of land is considered too high for low-cost
housing, the developer can offer an alternative area to build the required low-cost houses on another piece of his own land
subject to the condition that the new land titles for the said development can only be issued when the low-cost houses at
the alternative piece of land have been certified as satisfactorily completed.
3.3 As guidelines, the calculations for the number of low-cost houses required to be built in development with an area of 10
acres (4.0468 hectares) and above are as shown in Table 3.1:
Table 3.1: Guidelines for calculation of the low-cost houses required to be built in a project area of 10 acres or 4.0468
hectares and above.
Area of land under development

Rate of low-cost houses

(terraced) to be provided

Total number of low-cost houses

(terraced) to be provided

13 units to 18 units (approximately

10 acres to 13.5 acres or 4.0468 hectares to 1.3 units per acreor 3.2 units
15%of the
5.4632 hectares
per hectare
total number of houses built)
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13.6 acres to 17 acres or 5.5036 hectares to

6.8795 hectares

25 units to 31 units (approximately

1.8 units per acre or 4.5 units
20%of the
per hectare
total number of houses built)

17.1 acres to 20 acres or 6.92 hectares to

8.00936 hectares

2.3 units per acre

per hectare

or 4.5 units

Above 20 acres or above 8.0936

hectares

2.9 units per acre

per hectare

or 7.1 units

39 units to 46 units (approximately

25% of the
total number of houses built)
From 58 units (approximately 30%
of the
total number of houses built)

4.0 THE DEVELOPMENT CONTROL STANDARDS FOR LOW-COST HOUSING

4.1 The present Development Control Standards for low-cost housing have been in use in the State since 2nd October,
1996. These standards are basically adaptations of the "Development Control Standards Manual" as printed by the State
Planning Authority in order to make low-cost house prices affordable to the low-income families.
4.2 The relevant standards for low-cost housing covers aspects such as guidelines on maximum price ceiling, density of
development, building setbacks, building sizes, plot coverage, car parking requirement, road hierarchy/crosssections/truncations and housing amenities/facilities.
4.3 Price of low-cost house or flat:
Low-cost flats and intermediate terraced houses must be priced not exceeding RM40,000 and corner-terraced houses not
exceeding RM47,000.
In the case of flats and terraced houses which are built by private developers, they have to be sold to the Housing and
Development Commission or to a person of low-income as agreed by the Housing and Development Commission.
4.4 Density of developments:
The maximum permissible density for the development of the various low-cost housing types are as follows:
4.4.1 Detached core house and semi-detached houses
- 24.71 units per hectare or 10 units per acre
4.4.2 Terraced and quadruplex houses
- 44.48 units per hectare or 18 units per acre
4.4.3 Flats (maximum 4 storeys)
- 123.55 units per hectare or 50 units per acre
4.4.4 High-rise flats
- 247.11 units per hectare or 100 units per acre
4.5 Building Setbacks:
The minimum building setbacks for the different low-cost housing types are as follows:
4.5.1 Detached core house:
i. Front setbacks - 4.5 metres
ii. Side setbacks - 3.0 metres
iii. Side setbacks - 4.5 metres (adjacent to road)
iv. Rear setbacks - 3.0 metres 4.5.2 Semi-detached house:
i. Front setbacks - 4.5 metres
ii. Side setbacks - 3.0 metres
iii. Side setbacks (one side) - 0.0 metres
iv. Rear setbacks - 3.0 metres 4.5.3 Terraced houses:
i. Front setbacks - 4.5 metres
ii. Side setbacks (corner lot) - 3.0 metres
iii. Side setbacks - 4.5 metres
iv. Rear setbacks - 3.0 metres
4.5.4 Quadruplex house:

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i. Front setbacks - 4.5 metres
ii. Side setbacks - 3.0 metres
iii. Side setbacks - 4.5 metres (adjacent to road)
iv. Rear setbacks - 0.0 metres 4.5.5 Four-storey Flats:
The minimum setbacks for four-storey flats are based on "half-height" rule.
4.5.6 High-rise flats
The minimum setbacks for high-rise flats are also based on "half-height" rule.
4.6 Building sizes:
The minimum building sizes for the different low-cost housing types (two bedrooms) are as follows:
4.6.1 Detached core and semi-detached houses:
i. Frontage Width - 6.0 metres
ii. Depth - varies
iii. Total Floor Area - 50 sq.metres (538 sq. ft)
4.6.2 Terraced houses:
i. Frontage width - 5.5 metres
ii. Depth - 7.5 metres
iii. Total Floor Area - 40.25 sq. (433 sq. ft) metres
4.6.3 Quadruplex houses:
i. Frontage Width - 5.6 metres
ii. Depth - 8.0 metres
iii. Total Floor Area - 41.16 sq. (443 sq. ft) metres
4.6.4 Four-storey flats:
i. Frontage Width - 7.3 metres
ii. Depth - 6.3 metres
iii. Total Floor Area - 44.79 sq. (482 sq. ft) metres
4.7 Plot coverage: The maximum plot coverage permitted for the different low-cost housing types are as follows:
4.7.1 Detached core houses: 30% and no outbuilding allowed within the 3.0metre rear yard.
4.7.2 Semi-detached houses: 35% and no outbuilding allowed within the 3.0metre rear yard.
4.7.3 Terraced houses:
i. Corner unit - 35% and no outbuilding allowed within the 3.0 metre rear yard; and
ii. Intermediate unit - 50% and no outbuilding allowed within the 3.0 metre rear yard.
4.7.4 Quadruplex houses:
45% and no outbuilding allowed at all.
4.8 Car Parking Requirement:
Car parks within low-cost scheme may be provided as communal car parks with a minimum requirement of one car park
per four houses. These car parks may be sited within the access road reserve width of 20 metres.
4.9 Road Hierarchy / Cross-sections / Truncations:
All road hierarchy / road cross-sections and road truncations are the same for all housing schemes except the access road
reserves with the width of 15 metres and 20 metres where only their cross-sections are modified for low-cost projects as
follows:
i. For 15-metre wide reserve:
a. Carriageway - nil
b. Hard shoulder -nil
c. Footpath - 2.0 metres
d. Concrete drain - 1.2 metres (varies)
ii. For 20-metre wide reserve:
a. Carriageway - 6.0 metres b. Hard shoulder - nil
c. Footpath -nil
d. Concrete drain - 1.2 metres (varies)

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4.10 Low-cost Housing Amenities / Facilities: The various standards which have been adopted for low-cost housing
amenities / facilities are as follows:
4.10.1 Open space - 10% of gross land area
4.10.2 Shops - 1 shop per 80 houses
4.10.3 Children's playground - One playground per 500 to 1000 residents (size of playground from 647sq. metres - 4046
sq metres or 0.16 acre to 1.0 acre)
4.10.4 Multi-purpose Hall - One per 200 to 1000 residents (size of 1012sq. metres or 0.25 acre)
4.10.5 Surau - One per 800 Muslim residents (size of 2023 sq. metres or 0.5 acre)
4.10.6 Mosque - One per 2500-5000 Muslim residents (size of 4856 sq. metres or 1.2 acres)
4.10.7 Other house of worship - One per 2500-5000 followers (size of 4856 sq. metres or 1.2 acres)
4.10.8 Kindergarten
One per 2,500 residents (size : 740 sq. metres or 0.2 acre)
4.10.9 Primary school One per 7,500 residents (size : 2.3 hectares or 6 acres)
4.10.10 Secondary school
One per 15,000 to 20,000 residents (size : 3.6 hectares or 9 acres)
4.10.11 Clinic
One per 4,000 residents
(size : 0.152 hectare or 0.5 acre)
5.0 CONCLUSION
5.1 As has been stated earlier, since the government is no longer implementing the "site and service" resettlement
scheme, low-cost housing programmes are expected to cater for the housing needs especially of the squatters and lowincome families.
Therefore, the allocation of low-cost housing by the Housing and Development Commission/Ministry of Housing and the
identification of genuine squatters in particular by the Land and Survey Department must be properly coordinated if squatter
problems are to be solved.

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