PONTIAN: It was a proud moment for engineer S. Ganabathi when he received a mock key for his first house from the Johor Mentri Besar.

The 25-year-old, eldest of three siblings, said he had applied for the low-cost house more than two years ago.

“I never stopped trying and applied more than 10 times,” he said, adding that he had wanted to get his own low-cost home as early as possible, as houses were expensive now.

“Luckily, with the help of the government and Tanjung Piai Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), I was able to achieve my goal,” said Ganabathi, adding that he was planning to refurbish the two-storey house located in Taman Kiara II in Pekan Nanas here.

Ganabathi’s father, government staff S. Sivalingam, 56, said that he was grateful his son was allocated a lot, adding that he was looking forward to his son getting married soon, as it was the perfect time after getting a house.

Ganabathi was one of the 50 recipients who were presented with mock keys for their low-cost homes from Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin during his parliamentary visit to Tanjung Piai on Sunday.

Some 30 people also received titles for land in Kampung Tengah Mukim Jeram Batu in Pekan Nanas.

Canteen cook Norsiah Abdullah Sanek, 39, was another recipient who was all smiles after receiving her title.

Norsiah, a single mother with two daughters, said she had started applying for land 20 years ago, and was grateful the wait was finally over.

“Before this, my daughters and I were staying in a rented home,” she said, adding that it was difficult as she had to pay rent and save up for a future house at the same time.

Mohamed Khaled said that a total of 129 individuals received approval for low-cost houses in Taman Kiara II while 35 individuals received approval for land titles in Kampung Tengah Mukim Jeram Batu.

“The state government’s focus is always on the well-being of our people, and by providing affordable houses, more people will be able to have their own homes,” he said during the event at Dewan Muafakat Johor in Taman Sri Sentosa here .

He said the government would not neglect their responsibility in providing the public with affordable homes, adding that the Johor Affordable Homes (RMMJ) project would continue to be carried out.

He added that the government has agreed to allocate RM6.7mil to take over a 12.14ha land in Kukup in Pontian to build affordable homes for the public.

“This will be funded by the Bumiputera Property Fund, which has been used by the state government to buy back many plots of land in Pagoh, Segamat, Labis, Kluang and other areas to build affordable houses under the RMMJ project,” he said.