Newly elected President of SHAREDA, Mr Chew Shang Hai expressed his cautious optimism of better days towards the later part of the year.

Chew, who is Grand Merdeka Development Sdn Bhd Director, warned members to brace themselves for a tough year, given especially the external forces that are influencing the market.

"However, we remain optimistic as the market is expected to recover by the end of the year," said Chew, who replaces Datuk Francis Goh, who stepped down after a two-term tenure as president.

At a press conference on Saturday, March 25, Chew said SHAREDA, among others, will focus more on the enhancement of members through seminars like the areas of investments, management and others.

Citing that this is an important area, Chew reminded members not to rest on their laurels as 2017 will be challenging year.

"It is expected that the market for this year would continue to be slow until the second quarter due to the weak ringgit and external factors like the US President Trump and Brexit influences.

But, he said, the strengthening of the ringgit, the implementation of the Pan Borneo Highway Project and other infrastructure projects, as well as the palm oil prices, would influence the recovery.

He also said Shareda plans to work closely with the State Government to ensure the issuance of stratified titles.

Chew said Shareda also shared the view of the committee tasked to revamp the land development process that strata titles should be ready upon the issuance of the Occupational Certificate of completed projects.

The ongoing revamp on the land development process will see a "quick fix" solution on administrative procedures carried out first to hasten the issuance of strata titles and approval of Development Plan (DP).

Among others, he said SHAREDA also plans to propose to the Ministry of Local Government and Housing to extend the delivery process from the present 36 months.

Chew said they are planning to engage a lawyer and set up a task force to study the matter further in order to propose a win-win solution on the matter.

The move came following recent cases involving Liquidated Ascertain Damages (LAD) where developers were penalised for the late delivery of their properties.