BATU KAWAN (Jan 13): The Penang government is targeting to build 180,000 affordable housing units by 2030, state Housing, Local Government, and Town and Country Planning committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said today.

He said a discussion was held between him and Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow earlier and expressed confidence that the target would be the 'minimum amount' of affordable housing in Penang.

"According to the latest update from end of last year, Penang currently has a total of 102,335 affordable housing units that have been (either) completely built, are undergoing construction in various stages or pending approval," he said in his speech at an agreement signing ceremony between Aspen Vision City and Kerjaya Prospek Sdn Bhd here.

According to Jagdeep, some 30,000 affordable housing units have been built and another 30,000 units are under construction.

Earlier, Jagdeep witnessed the signing ceremony whereby Aspen Group, a Penang-based property development and real estate investment group, appointed Kerjaya Prospek (M) Sdn Bhd as its main contractor to develop Vivo Executive Apartment and its Phase 2, Viio (rpt Viio), in Aspen Vision City here.

Vivo Executive Apartment would consist of three 48-storey blocks, housing a total of 1,530 units of executive apartments, a nine-storey podium of car parks, community recreational facilities and shop lots, whereas Viio, located adjacent to Vivo, would feature two blocks of 46 and 48 storeys, housing a total of 980 executive apartments.

The construction works for Vivo will commence on Feb 14 this year and are expected to be completed by April 2023, whereas Viio is expected to be completed a year after Vivo was fully built.