Low-cost flats in five projects in Penang will soon be demolished and rebuilt to offer residents bigger units with better facilities and security measures.

Penang exco Jagdeep Singh Deo said such urban renewal projects were necessary as "it is not economically viable to maintain them anymore."

Jagdeep said the state government had formed a committee, which met in 2015, to look into several housing schemes, on the island and mainland.

"We found that for very old schemes, it is more economically viable to demolish and rebuild them into new homes. This is especially so in states like Penang where land is scarce," said Jagdeep, who is in charge of local government, housing, town and country planning....