Housing is a top agenda of the government in championing the interests and wellbeing of the people, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said the proliferation of affordable housing projects was proof of the government's commitment to facilitate home ownership according to the people's means.

"We have many agencies managing affordable housing programmes which have received overwhelming response like the 1Malaysia Civil Servants Housing Scheme (PPA1M), 1 Malaysia People's Housing Scheme (PR1MA), the Affordable Homes Programme (RUMAWIP)," he said when handing over the keys for the 1Razak Mansion Housing Project here today.

The Prime Minister said that apart from these, housing redevelopment was another initiative by the government to provide comfortable housing for the people like the 1Razak Mansion in Sungai Besi, which before this was known as the Razak Mansion public housing scheme.

A total of 658 new housing units were built under the redevelopment initiative, each with a floor space of 800 square feet as compared to 399 to 504 square feet before, and come with three rooms, two bathrooms besides the provision of various public facilities.

Najib said the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project was built near the old housing and successfully completed nine months ahead of the expected three-year target timeline.

"Through the PPP, we can redevelop these housing units. Of course, Razak Mansion before this gave an impression of a 'dingy', squatter house look, an 'eyesore' but now has been transformed and can be proud of," he said.

Najib said several residents he encountered also expressed their joy at getting a more comfortable and modern home.

He said each 1Razak Mansion unit has a strata title under the name of the original owner with a 99 year lease compared to the old units with the remaining 40-year lease and having no strata titles.

Some 557 original owners will get new housing units free, while 101 housing tenants will be offered the units at a price of only RM42,000.

Najib also thanked the residents who agreed wholeheartedly to the proposed redevelopment of the housing site.

He said the transfer costs of RM3,000 for the original inhabitants would be funded by the housing developer, in addition to incurring the cost of maintenance and sinking fund for two years starting this year.

They were also granted a two-month time frame to move to the new units, he said.

The Prime Minister described the housing project as being close to his heart because it was launched by his late father Tun Abdul Razak Hussein in 1967, who was the deputy prime minister then and he (Najib) inaugurated the 1Razak Mansion groundbreaking ceremony in 2014.

Tun Abdul Razak succeeded Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj in 1970 to become Malaysia's second prime minister. Tun Abdul Razak died while in office in 1976.

Najib said the current market value of a 1Razak Mansion housing unit is RM350,000 compared to the previous price of between RM60,000 to RM80,000 per unit.