Nga expects Hamzah to uphold support for urban renewal bill

Nga expects Hamzah to uphold support for urban renewal bill

PETALING JAYA: Nga Kor Ming said he will hold opposition leader Hamzah Zainuddin to his word that the opposition would not object to the Urban Renewal Bill when it comes up for debate and a vote at the next Dewan Rakyat session.

Nga, the housing and local government minister, said Hamzah had made his pledge at the Prime Minister’s Question Time on Aug 28.

“He promised Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim that the opposition would support this Bill and that they were only asking for it to be deferred,” Nga said. “Now I have deferred it. So when the time comes, I hope there will be no posturing or stunts to mislead the public,” he said in a recent interview with selected media.

Nga said the law could come into effect in January if it is passed by Parliament and receives royal assent.

The debate on the controversial Urban Renewal Bill 2025 was postponed to the next Dewan Rakyat meeting in October, following strong resistance from the opposition and some in the government bloc, including Barisan Nasional and seven PKR MPs.

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The bill had been tabled for debate in late August.

Hamzah has been reported as saying that the opposition did not reject the proposed law and only wanted the debate to be deferred to allow for an in-depth discussion.

He said the opposition was prepared to support the bill if it had been fine-tuned, Hamzah was quoted as saying.

The proposed Urban Renewal Act seeks to replace outdated legislation and regulations governing the redevelopment of dilapidated urban areas.

The bill outlines three types of projects – redevelopment involves tearing down and rebuilding housing projects; regeneration involves repairs or upgrades to dilapidated or abandoned buildings; while revitalisation refers to upgrading or improving an area without demolishing it.

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On Hamzah citing the Razak Mansion when arguing that redevelopment could be carried out without the Urban Renewal Act, Nga said that the Land Acquisition Act had been used by the then government to take possession of the land in Bandar Tun Razak.

“There were 33 families who disagreed with the move to seize their homes and only to be compensated later. We do not want to repeat the mistake.”