Cuepacs proposes homes below RM250,000 for civil servants

SHAH ALAM: The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) has urged the federal and state governments to provide medium-cost houses, priced RM250,000 or below, to civil servants.

Its president, Datuk Omar Osman, said about 45 per cent of 1.4 million civil servants were still unable to afford homes due to price factors.

"This 45 per cent are still renting houses for between RM800 and RM1,500 monthly, although they have worked for five years. How much longer will they live like this?

"We want the medium-cost houses to be provided immediately to allow civil servants to live comfortably in their own homes," he told reporters after officiating the Union of Teachers in the Malaysian Education Service (Kongres) annual general meeting here today.

Omar said the move to provide affordable homes for civil servants earning below RM7,000 would indirectly improve their productivity and performance.

Citing Putrajaya as an example, he said the majority of civil servants in the administrative centre did not own homes but stayed in government quarters.

Omar also suggested that the National Housing Department be responsible for providing the houses, instead of developers.

He said Cuepacs was ready to give its views and cooperate with the state and federal governments to resolve the issue.

Commenting on bonus, Omar said he hoped the government would consider the two half-month bonus for civil servants as proposed by Cuepacs previously.

"We've brought the proposal to the government and received feedback from the chief secretary to the government. He said it was up to the prime minister to decide.

"We hope civil servants will at least receive half-month bonus before Hari Raya Aidilfitri and the remainder will be annouced by the prime minister in the 2014 Budget in October," he said. -- BERNAMA

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