YEARS of anxiety and sleepless nights have finally ended for taxi driver Osman Majid when he finally moved into his new home at the revived Taman Terubong Indah (Majestic Heights) Phase I, in Paya Terubong, Penang. 

Osman, 58, said he had felt cheated and outraged for the past six years when the housing project was abandoned after the developer faced financial and management problems. 

“I was also having financial difficulties as I had to pay my taxi instalments, house rental and housing loan instalments to the bank for this unit,” he said in an interview when Paya Terubong assemblyman Datuk Dr Loh Hock Hun visited him at his new home on Saturday.  

“Now, I am very happy that I finally have a place of my own, despite waiting for nine long years,” he said, adding that he bought the house when the project was launched in 1995. 

Osman and his wife, Norjahan Sathuli, 44, were among the first few residents who moved into their units after the Occupational Certi-ficate (OC) was obtained on Dec 30. 

Osman said he was not unduly perturbed by the low occupancy now or bothered by the surrounding stalled Phase 2A, 2B and 3A of the housing project. 

“I am not worried about the security here. In fact, it is quite cool here as it is near the hills,” he added. 

Osman, who is also a victim of another abandoned project, Taman Cemerlang, said he hoped the government would be stricter when issuing licences to developers in future. 

“The developer's background must be scrutinised thoroughly so that the people will not be cheated of their hard-earned savings,” he said. 

Another resident Lim Teik Poh, 47, said the OC for Ma-jestic Heights was timely as her landlord had wanted to terminate her tenancy for a house she was renting in a Batu Maung. 

“We were attracted to the unit because of its spacious design and location,” said the housewife, adding that luckily, she and her husband, Chuah Peng Heng, 53, a foundry worker, had enough savings to settle the RM7,500 revival fee. 

Dr Loh said he had “completed his duty'' to the house purchasers following the issuance of the OC. 

“However, as a wakil rakyat, the purchasers can still approach me for help if they face any problems,” he added. 

Majestic Heights, comprising 2,955 housing units, 55 shoplots and 22 light industrial units, is the country’s largest single abandoned housing project. 

The Housing and Local Government Minister invoked Section 11(1)(d) of the Housing Developers’ (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 which directed the developer to wind up the company. 

In 2001, 545 buyers of Phase 1 apartments ap- pointed liquidator Deloitte Kassim Chan after the deve-loper agreed to a winding-up order filed in the High Court.