The door is still open for the 22 evicted tenants of the People’s Housing Project (PPR) at Taman Manggis to negotiate, although the offer has been rejected several times, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said.

He hoped the tenants will come forward and consider other alternatives such as applying for low-cost or low-medium cost houses.

He said the offer for them to return to their homes for three days would end today and they should look at other alternatives as there were still plenty of vacant units under the state government housing projects besides PPR.

“We don’t close the door to negotiations and are willing to help them, but the enforcement needs to be carried out because there are so many PPR projects that face similar problem,” he told reporters after launching the ‘Senamrobik’ community programme in conjunction with the International Women’s Day 2019 in George Town today.

On Wednesday, the 22 tenants were ordered to vacate their units after they lost their eligibility status.

The next day, state government offered the tenants, who camped at the Tun Abdul Razak Complex (Komtar), to stay at a hotel managed by the Penang Islamic Religious Council, but they rejected it.

Chow, who is also Padang Kota assemblyperson, said the government must be firm in enforcing the laws to allow more qualified people to live at PPR units.

“If we are not firm, then the plan to allow those really eligible for the PPR units will be affected,” he said.

Despite the challenges, the state government would continue to carry out enforcement on all projects after it has completed updating existing information, Chow said.

A check by Bernama this morning found six families, comprising more than 20 people, still seeking shelter at the Komtrar lobby since Wednesday, about two km from PPR Taman Manggis.

- Bernama