KLUANG, 9 July 2017:
The Johor government will impose a development charge to every change of land use that was developed, effective Sept 1.
State Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Md Jais Sarday said the development charge aims to increase the income of the local authorities (PBT) – which could subsequently be used to upgrade public infrastructures.
He said the charge had been approved by the State Planning Committee Meeting on July 4, and it would be applied for the land use change, density change and change of floor area.
He added the charge was a form of payment under Section 32 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 (Act 172) imposed by the Local Planning Authority (PBPT) to applicants or land owners.
“For example, the charge will be imposed on a land which previously was registered as agriculture land to be changed to housing status, or a housing area to be expanded with construction which will increase the housing density or the increase of strata housing building level.”
He said a similar charge had been imposed in other states including Selangor in 2010, Perak (2012), Kelantan and Kedah (2015).
The charge will be based on the land location and usage – which is 30% for International Zone area land, 15% (City Council and PBT council status area) and 10% (PBT district status area).
So far, he said, only three PBTs had International Zone areas – namely the Johor Bahru City Council, Johor Bahru Tengah City Council and Pasir Gudang City Council with the total land area of 28,468.37 acres.
“We will only impose the charge effective Sept 1, therefore the developers have about two months to make any applications.”
In the meantime, Md Jais said the state government is completing Local Plans for five districts namely Tangkak, Mersing, Kota Tinggi, Johor Bahru-Kulai and Batu Pahat-Pontian which would be gazetted on Jan 1.
– Bernama