For about 70 years the families of Kampung Manis in Perai have lived on railway land with no settled future for their homes. That has now changed. At a ceremony at the Taman Chai Leng multipurpose hall, reported on 19 October 2026, the Penang government set out what each household will get when the village is rebuilt, and for most of them the answer is a new home at no cost.
The 174 families who still live in the kampung will each receive an 850 sq ft unit free, in exchange for the house they have now. That is bigger than the 650 sq ft usually given as replacement housing, state housing and environment committee chairman Datuk Seri S. Sundarajoo said. PenangToday reported the units are worth RM350,000 to RM400,000 at market prices.
Another 53 families, who have ties to Kampung Manis but are not permanent residents there, will be offered units at RM150,000 each under a rent-to-own scheme.
The homes come under the state's Rumah MutiaraKu programme. The first phase of the redevelopment has 338 homes with a swimming pool and car park, on about 3.97 acres of Railway Assets Corporation (RAC) land covering Lots 286, 65 and 67 in Bandar Perai, according to Buletin Mutiara. EdgeProp put the wider RAC site at about 34.839 acres, to be developed in phases over roughly seven years, with RAC entitled to an estimated RM156.49 million made up of RM54.1 million in cash and RM102.39 million in affordable homes and relocation.
The developer is Rivanis Ventures Sdn Bhd, which EdgeProp describes as an associate of Singapore-listed Aspen Group Holdings. Work is expected to start at the end of 2026 or early 2027, once the development plan is approved, and the developer has 24 months from plan approval to finish the replacement homes. Families who must move out while it is built will get RM700 a month in rental help from the developer until their new homes are ready.
For residents, the day was about paperwork that had taken decades to arrive. Site-vacation consent documents from RAC and the Penang Housing Board (LPNPP) were handed over, with Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, RAC chief executive Datuk Azhar Ahmad and LPNPP general manager Khairulnizam Hashim present. The first agreement on the project was signed on 11 November 2024, Buletin Mutiara reported.
The figures differ slightly between reports: Kosmo and PenangToday put the market value at RM350,000 to RM400,000, while Buletin Mutiara gives about RM400,000. Either way, the households who have waited longest will move without paying for the new unit.
Sources: Buletin Mutiara, EdgeProp, PenangToday, Kosmo.
