Folks seek quick end to property woes

10/12/2003 The Star By Dharmender Singh

CREDITORS for the shop and industrial lots at the abandoned Nilai Industrial Zone project unanimously voted for the court appointed official assignee to take over the task of liquidator during a meeting in Seremban recently.

The official assignee Azman Aiyub who chaired the meeting attended by over 200 creditors at the Negri Sembilan State Assembly Building however, asked those present not to appoint him as the liquidator as he would not be able to give his full attention to the task.

He explained that he was handling several other similar cases facing liquidation.

Instead, he recommended that the creditors appoint an independent liquidator.

The creditors, however, felt that it would cost them less to stick with the government official and that he would also be able to work more closely with the state government in seeing the project through.

The developer for the project was Syabinas Holdings Sdn Bhd while the state government had a 30% stake in the project.

However, after the creditors had voted for the official assignee to act as the liquidator, Azman asked the floor to continue with proposing possible independent liquidators.

He said although the creditors had voted for him to take over the task, the final decision on engaging a private liquidator would be up to the court to decide.

Many of the creditors who spoke at the packed auditorium which also included buyers, who were present as observers, said their only interest was to see the units delivered.

They said they could not understand why the project which only needed 5%-10% of work to complete had been left idle for such a long time.

They called for a quick end to the problem to benefit all those who had invested their money in the project.

The Nilai Industrial Zone pro tem committee in a statement said many were initially sceptical about buying the property but went ahead due to the involvement of the state government.

However, work on the project stopped six years ago but most of the buyers had to service their loans.

The committee claimed that while it could accept that a developer could face such problems, it did not understand why the state government had not come forward to help complete the project.

It also said the buyers had been paying quit rent and assessment for the property although the private authorities did not provide any service to the area.

It estimated that the local authorities had collected a total of RM2mil over the years and felt that this money could easily have been used to carry out some of the works that would have ensured the project was completed.

The committee claimed that the units had been completed and only lacked infrastructure such as telephone and electricity lines and water supply.

It said if these facilities were supplied, the local authority could at least issue a Temporary Certificate of Fitness.

A buyer, Jasmine Chin said checks at the units had shown that although the assessment was paid, there had been no work carried out to upkeep the area as the grass was overgrown and unkempt.

She said buyers visiting the area had also noticed suspicious looking people entering the buildings and were worried that the units might be used for illegal activities such as drug abuse.